A Series of (Un)fortunate Meetings
by alanw6616
Summary: After Beacon falls, Team RWBY is broken and Team RNJR never forms. Alone, Ruby sets off into the Sanus frontier to be the hero she always wanted to be. But, it's out there where she can't seem to stop running into the frustrating assassin that messed everything up in the first place, and (un)fortunately, you can only spend so much time with someone before they start to grow on you.
1. Chapter 1

** Beta**: ShadowMeister234

Just because Beacon was gone didn't mean there wasn't any work to do, in fact, it was because Beacon had fallen there was more work than ever. Something her team didn't seem to understand.

They were gone too, off to who knows where or lying in bed feeling sorry for themselves. She felt bad for thinking that. It wasn't fair to her sister. Yang had lost an arm on top of everything else they had lost. She couldn't even imagine what it must feel like to have a part of you missing, and such a crucial part of her combat style too. She had just thought her sister was stronger than that.

She had also thought Team RWBY would be together forever but look how that turned out.

Ruby trudged along the dirt path that could barely be considered a road. Her feet were sore, her shoulders ached, her hands were sweaty, and her clothes were smeared with little stains and marks courtesy of the nature all around her.

This wasn't really her element, but she was still out here because it was the right thing to do. Grimm sightings were off the charts and available huntsmen to deal with them were dangerously low. Almost all of Vale's huntsmen had been called back to the city to help quell the ongoing aftermath. This left the already valuable Sanus frontier with even less defense than normal, and it was why Ruby had packed her bags and set out.

The city had enough people looking out for it, but the people out on the frontier, the ones most at risk, didn't have anyone. She just couldn't sit around in the relative safety of Patch while there were people who might need help. That wasn't the kind of person she wanted to be. She wanted to be a hero to everyone just like her mom had been, but mostly she didn't want anyone else to go through what she had. Didn't want to be forced to leave anyone else behind. Didn't want anyone else to die.

A few tears rain down her cheeks but she didn't bother to wipe them away. In the future, she couldn't be seen crying or showing fear. It was a huntress job to be strong in front of everyone, but right now she was allowed to be tearful and sad because right now she was trudging along all alone.

* * *

The first settlement she arrived in was puny compared to every other place she had ever been to before. Granted she had only ever really been to Patch and Vale before but the point still stood. From her quick guess based on the number of buildings she saw, there couldn't have been more than two hundred people living in this village and that was being generous. The whole village could have fit inside Vale's city square and was entirely enclosed by a wall of wooden stacks with many of them looking like they had rotted through.

She thought about informing the guard at the front gate about it but decided not to. Odds were the villagers already knew and just didn't have the resources to do anything about it. Plus, the single gate guard was giving her a sort of displeased look as she walked through. He didn't try to stop her but he very clearly wasn't in the mood to talk; with a scowl like that, Ruby would be surprised if he was ever in the mood to talk.

She just didn't make eye contact and entered the village like she had a purpose. Which she did, she reminded herself! She was here on a mission or really to get a mission.

How did she go about doing that? She doubted there was going to be a bulletin board with posters promising a mission and a reward like there were in some of these old movies dad likes to watch. She was probably going to have to find whoever was in charge and to do that she was going to have to ask someone for directions, and if there was one thing that Ruby Rose was definitely not known for, it was her ability to approach total strangers.

It occurred to her that she might be a tad bit unprepared for her chosen path of heroism. That was fine. She just had to take a deep breath. They were just people. Nothing to be afraid of. All she had to do was greet them—oh no why were they all staring at her!

It was pretty late in the day so there weren't many people out on the only road this place seemed to have, but there were more people than Ruby was comfortable with looking her way, which was to say there were more than zero.

A young boy pointed to her while looking up to his dad, and two women next to a food stand whispered to each other while stealing glances at her. Ruby was trying her best not to shake from nervousness as she wondered what they were saying about her or why they were watching her.

Was it just because she was new or did they recognize her as huntress? Was it the clothes that gave her away? She had to admit her red and black ensemble kind of stood out when everyone else was dressed in plain greens and browns. There was also the possibility they recognized her from the Vytal Festival even if she had only participated in the first round.

Whatever the reason, Ruby couldn't take much more of it. She pulled up her hood to cover her face and moved as fast as she could without the use of her semblance. Flying down the street in a burst of rose petals would only draw more attention.

She checked every building she passed looking for one that might have been the town hall, assuming this place even had one. It didn't help that all the structure looked pretty much the same and that none of them had signs to indicate what kind of place they were. How was a shop supposed to survive if you couldn't tell where or what it was! Did these people not know about advertising or marketing themselves?

Maybe the fact that this settlement didn't even seem to have a name should have clued Ruby in to how things worked around here.

She was getting visibly desperate which only caused more people to notice her which only caused her to grow increasingly desperate. Why did they have to keep looking at her—she had normal knees, dang it!

She wanted to get off the street. Even if it wasn't the town hall, she would have been fine hiding out in a shop or something so she could cool off, but when you couldn't be sure what was a store and what was just someone's house, that made things difficult.

Thankfully, she caught a break when she noticed a man stumbling out of a building and smelling like alcohol. A bar! Bars were always good places to get information, at least Ruby assumed. She hadn't actually tried before, but uncle Qrow's always seemed to think they were the best place to start.

Ruby slipped right in and took a deep breath getting a good whiff of booze and cigarette smoke. Now, normally one would think that being in a bar would be much more stressful for a sixteen-year-old girl than just being on the road outside, but with uncle Qrow and Yang being her two main role models growing up, Ruby had a lot more experience with bars and clubs than she really wanted. Not that she ever participated in either, it was just her and dad dragging a drunk Uncle Qrow home or picking up Yang after she partied a little too hard. (She still couldn't believe Yang destroyed that guy's club and punched him through a window. It was a miracle she hadn't been arrested and they weren't sued for everything they owned.) The people in the bar were also less inclined to stare at her. Only a few even bothered to look up to see who had entered before going back to their drink.

Ruby was glad for that and the rustic aesthetic of the bar only made her feel more comfortable. It really looked like a tavern right out of a fantasy novel where the hero would get the lead to their first quest. Everything from the exclusively wooden furniture to the roaring fireplace built into the wall, and even antlers decorating the walls, really gave it that style.

Ruby lowered her hood and walked passed many tables to get to the bartender. He was a chiseled man with a scar running down his nose and a beard that looked like it hadn't seen a brush in the last decade.

He took one look at Ruby and instantly turned his head to the side with a disgusted look. It was nearly enough to cost Ruby her nerves but she pushed on. She took a seat on a barstool, and the bartender, who seemed resigned to his fate, turning to face her fully.

"What do you want? If it's anything but ale or beer, your out of luck."

"I'm actually looking for the person in charge of this town," Ruby said as politely as she could, knowing full well that she wasn't very likely to get any in return. "I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find them."

"Right in front of your eyes," the bartender spat. "I'm the one who supplies the food and drink around here so I get to run things. Now, what do you want?"

Ruby winced a bit not having expected the leader to also be the bartender and wishing he could have been someone a little nicer. There wasn't any changing it, though, and suggesting that he might not actually be the guy in charge wouldn't do her any favors. Best to just assume he was telling the truth.

"My name is Ruby Rose and I'm a huntress. I'm traveling through eastern Sanus and was wondering if this town was having any Grimm trouble that you might need me to take care of."

The bartender's eyes looked her up and down. "A huntress? You sure about that? Seems to me you're a little young and a little short, kiddie."

Someone behind Ruby laughed at that and Ruby felt her face heat up. "Okay, I'm only a huntress _in training_ from Beacon, but I'm more than capable of taking on any Grimm you might have."

"Uh-huh," the bartender rebuffed.

Growing frustrated, Ruby pulled Crescent Rose from her back and deployed it in its scythe form for all to see. It drew some attention but not nearly as much as Ruby expected, and the bartender looked at it not with shook or awe but with a kind of amusement.

"Listen kiddie, anyone can get their parents to buy them a fancy looking weapon as long as they've got the dough. Doesn't mean squat if you don't know how to use it."

"Then I'll prove it to you," Ruby said, feeling more confident with a weapon in her hand. She positioned her scythe so the tip of the blade was facing the ground. She was ready to show this ignorant bartender just how great Ruby Rose was. She started spinning her weapon in front of her preparing a series of moves she had done thousands of times before.

It was unfortunate that she hadn't realized that the roof of this establishment was much lower than she was used to. Ruby didn't even make it a full rotation as the blade of her scythe caught itself in the ceiling, sending dust and wood chips onto the bar top.

Ruby's face exploded into a red deeper than her cloak as she wished the world would put her out of her misery and create a sinkhole to swallow her up. The bartender had gone from assumed to quite angry.

"How about you put that away but you hurt someone," he said, but Ruby hardly hear it because someone was absolutely roaring with laughter, and it was no secret whose expense it was at.

With her emotions running high, Ruby pulled her scythe from the ceiling and turned to face her heckler. "It's not that funny!" she yelled—and that's when she saw the last person she had ever expected to see.

Mercury Black sat at the table by the wall laughing up a storm. Their eyes met and he had to bring himself under control, actually wiping a tear out of his eye in the process. Then without missing a beat, he leaned his elbows on the table and waved at her with the most condescending smirk Ruby had ever seen plastered on his face.

All the memories of the Vytal festival came flooding back: Yang, Penny, Pyrrha, and so many others. People had died because of him and now he was just sitting there like it had never happened.

Pure rage wasn't something Ruby was used to feeling but at that moment, it filled her from head to toe as she quickly shifted her weapon into a sniper and aimed it right at Mercury's smug face. "Don't move!" she yelled.

To be fair, Mercury didn't, but he also didn't seem worried about the high-caliber sniper being pointed at him.

"Hey, what are you doing!" the bartender shouted from behind her.

Ruby didn't dare take her eyes off the grey assassin as she replied. "The man sitting there is a very dangerous person, but don't worry because I'll protect—"

Ruby never got to finish as she suddenly found a silver revolver being pushed into the side of her face. "Put away your weapon right now or I'm gonna have a mess to clean up, huntress or not."

"But, he's a criminal," Ruby tried to explain.

"Yeah, well right now he's my customer and I don't appreciate little kids disturbing them."

"But—"

The bartender pulled the hammer of the revolver back causing the weapon to emit a satisfying click. The whole bar was watching their exchange at this point and Ruby saw a few other patrons with hands on their own weapons ready to step in if they needed to.

Even with the position she was in, Ruby felt confident she could take them all, but what would that accomplish? At best, she would be attacking civilians and at worst the bartender would be true to his word and the revolver smashed into her cheek would have enough kick to break through her aura and her skull.

Slowly, Ruby lower her weapon and returned it to her back in its storage mode. The bartender smiled and put his gun back under the bar counter. "Glad we could reach an understanding. Don't try that again."

With the excitement concluded the bar patrons quickly return to their drinks as if a sixteen-year-old girl hadn't just pulled a mechashift weapon on a customer. The only one who hadn't was Mercury himself, who didn't hesitate to start laughing at her, again!

Angry and humiliated, Ruby stomped over to his table and slammed both hands onto it causing the two glasses he had to rattle. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.

Mercury stopped laughing, for good this time, and his eyes scanned the bar like his answer would be written on the wall somewhere. "Well, I was just sitting around, but then you came in and put in quite the show. It was the best entertainment I've had in a while."

"That not what I meant and you know it. Why are you here?"

"You seem pretty strung up right now. How about you take a seat?" Mercury pointed to the chair across from him.

"Answer the questions?"

Mercury didn't. Instead, he picked up his glass of water and leaned back into his chair as he sipped it.

"Mercury!" Ruby growled, her fingernails digging into the wooden table.

His only response was to nod his head towards the unoccupied chair.

Ruby held out for maybe a minute more before giving in and sitting down. She was very aware that from this position she couldn't see his feet under the table. Not normally anything to worry about, but since her tablemate was a killer who specialized in kicks, she was feeling a bit vulnerable. She did her best to tuck her feet in and keep her eyes low, but she knew that if Mercury struck she was going to be losing some aura.

"There, now we can talk like civilized people instead of you leaning over me?" Mercury said setting his glass back on the table. "Feeling a little more relaxed with a seat under you?"

"No."

He shrugged. "Oh well, nobody can say I didn't try my best to help."

"What are you doing here?" Ruby repeated.

"Well, I was just sitting around, but then you came in and put in quite the show. It was the best entertainment I've had in a while," Mercury repeated once again.

Ruby wanted to hit him or better yet stab him with Crescent Rose, but she took a deep breath to try and calm down. It wasn't going to do her any good to let him get to her. "Where's Cinder?"

"You know, it's rude to ask about someone else when we just started talking."

_Deep breaths, deep breaths. Come on, you survived Yang and Weiss. You can get through this. _"Why aren't you with Cinder?" Ruby rephrased.

Mercury realized he wasn't going to get much more of a reaction from her and sat up a little straighter and looked a bit more serious. "I'm not with Cinder and Emerald anymore."

Ruby's eyebrow jumped. "Then where are they?"

"No idea."

"They left you behind," Ruby gasped. Even with all the horrible things they did, she still thought they were a team.

Mercury noticed her shock and couldn't help rolling his eyes. Honor among thieves was a saying only used by those who had never been thieves "It's actually the other way around."

"You left them behind?"

"You're making it sound worse than it is. My agreement with Cinder was over after she got what she wanted, so I decided it was time for us to go our separate ways."

"And she just let you go?" Ruby questioned. "Not as naïve as you look, are you? Yeah, I'm sure she was planning on keeping me around for the long-haul, to keep me from becoming a loose end if nothing else, but after Beacon, she wasn't in much condition to demand an extension to my tenure. From what I understand, I have you to thank for that."

"I don't even know what I did," Ruby said trying to recall those last few moments on top that tower. "Is that why you're even talking to me right now?"

"Eh, I wasn't doing anything else and I don't actually have anything against you."

"Did you have something against Beacon?"

"No."

"Yet you still attacked it," she said the anger seeping back into her voice.

"That was all Cinder's idea. I was only brought on to help her with it," he replied with the same passiveness he had been using since the start of their conversation.

"Why?"

"Because Cinder is a very dangerous woman at the best of times and when she came to me with her offer, I wasn't in a position to reject it."

"You could have said something. You could have gone to Ozpin for help or even the General. I'm sure they would have listened."

Mercury shook his head finding the desperation in Ruby's voice a bit funny. "I think you're misjudging me. I wasn't someone looking to be saved. Just because Cinder wasn't my preferred boss doesn't mean I was trying to sabotage her. I was on board for the entire thing."

"You killed people!"

Mercury smirked. "Technically, I didn't kill a single person. That was all the White Fang, Cinder and Grimm."

"But you were involved. You're a criminal that needs to be locked up so you can't hurt anyone ever again."

"Probably," he conceded, "but that's not going to happen out here. Even if you fight me and win, everyone is going to think you're the bad guy."

Ruby looked out at the bar patrons that been ready to gun her down not too long ago. "Why don't they care that you're a criminal? Did they just not believe me?"

"You do know where you are right? People who live outside the wall do it for a reason," Mercury said. "That reason is usually because they have some kind of problem with the city and more often than not it's a legal one. Half the people here are probably criminals in some way or another: robbery, assault, tax evasion, you name it."

"Destroying a huntsmen academy and unleashing Grimm into the city is a little more serious than robbery or assault."

"You're right, but they don't know that I'm partially responsible for that. Information was slow getting out here even when the CCT was active. Now that it's gone, information flow has pretty much staled. Even if they were tuned into the Vytal festival broadcast while it was happening, they'd only recognize me as the poor boy who got his leg shattered in the finals."

Ruby teeth cracked together in the back of her mouth as she remembered what Yang had gone through after that incident. "How did your leg heal so fast anyway?"

"Magic."

"Magic doesn't exist."

"Then I suppose the Grimm Dragon that was turned to stone on top of Beacon was just my imagination."

That took Ruby back a bit. What her eyes were capable of was still a mystery to her, and Uncle Qrow, the only person who seemed to know anything about them, had been very cryptic about it. "Just what do you know?" she asked him.

"I'm getting kind of tired of answering all the questions. How about we reversal roles for a bit."

Obviously, he was deflecting but if he didn't want to answer then she didn't have a way to force him. Better to just play along. "What do you want to know?"

"You asked me why I was here alone, but I'm far more curious about what you're doing without the rest of your colorful friends. I thought you were all besties for the resties," he mocked.

Ruby faced drooped which Mercury easily noticed. The last thing she wanted to tell him was the problems between her and her team, or maybe it was better to call them her ex-team now, but it was too late to hide it. "Yang's doesn't want to leave the house, Weiss is back in Atlas and Blake ran away," she vented.

"Sad," Mercury replied clearly feeling anything but.

"You know, it's your fault that it happened."

"Eh, we might have been the catalyst, but I don't think it's very fair to place your team's issues on us. Whatever decisions were made after Beacon were decisions your team made all on their own. If you couldn't stick together during the worst of times then I don't think you were ever a real team to begin with."

"That's not true!" Ruby yelled, slamming the table again as she stood up.

Mercury didn't even flinch. He just sat there grinning at her until she lowered herself back into the chair feeling a little embarrassed over her outburst. Getting her mad was exactly what he was looking for and she hated how easily she was falling for it.

"What about that the June guy and his team," Mercury continued. "Weren't your friends with them."

"It's Jaune," Ruby corrected, "and they decided to head to Haven since that was the only lead we had on you guys."

Mercury looked skeptical. "And you didn't go with them?"

Ruby turned away not wanting him to see her shame. "No…I wish them the best, but I don't want to be involved anymore. I became a huntress to fight Grimm not people. Spending the rest of my life chasing revenge isn't going to fix anything or bring back anyone. Let the professionals handle Cinder. I want to focus on helping people who still need it."

"So that's why you're out. Trying to fight for the common man," Mercury said after a moment of unusual quiet.

"Yeah," Ruby said leaning her head on the table. It left her wide open but she was keeping an eye open to see if it was enough to bait him into attacking her. "But, I guess they don't actually need me to help."

Mercury chuckled. "Oh, they need you."

"How do you know?"

"Because places like this always need help especially from a huntress. They just never want to admit it since they're used to doing everything on their own."

"So, is getting a gun shoved into your face a normal part of their stubborn rejection?"

"No, but to be fair, you were the one to start the gun pointing."

Ruby's eyes widen and her face burned as she realized he was right. "Dang it," she muffled, burying her face in her arm leaving only her eyes to peek over. Mercury didn't make any comment so they sat in silence.

Ruby didn't know what to think. Here she was sitting with one of the criminals that had attacked Beacon and she couldn't do anything about it. What would Jaune think if he knew that she was exchanging small talk with one of the people involved in killing his partner? What would Yang say if she saw her like this? Probably something along the lines of fighting Mercury no matter what the other bar patrons thought or did, but getting into a bar fight just wasn't something she could do even if it meant bringing a criminal to justice.

What did he even think of all this? Unless he had been spying on her since Beacon fell, meeting her here would have been just as surprising for him as it had been for her, yet he hardly acted concern. Was he that confident he could beat her if it came to it, or was it something else entirely?

Her eyes looked him over trying to find some sort of clue. They eventually landed on the two glasses in front of him. They had always been there but this was the first time she really looked at them. One was just water, that he had been sipping on and off, and the other was clearly filled with alcohol. The thing was that the alcohol glass looked untouched.

It was strange and Ruby couldn't stop looking at it until Mercury caught on. "You want it," he said grabbing it and sliding it over to her.

"You don't want it?" Ruby said and then immediately wished she could take it back. Of course, he didn't want it if he was offering it to her.

Luckily, Mercury saved her the embarrassment by not responding with a clever retort. "Nah, I don't drink."

Ruby blinked a few times not quite believing what she heard. "If you don't drink then why do you have it?"

"You can't just walk into a bar and not order alcohol. That's how they make all their money, so if you don't order a drink to start you're not getting anything at all."

"So, you came to a bar just to get some water?"

"Kind of, mostly I'm just killing time. In case you didn't notice, there isn't much else to do here but sit around in a bar."

"Killing time till what?" Ruby said trying to dig a little deeper.

Mercury just shrugged.

Ruby sighed and looked down at the drink she had been handed. "What are you even doing in this town."

Mercury grinned like his favorite show had just come on. "Well, I was just sitting around, but then you came in and—" he cut off as he saw the liquid of the drink he had just relinquished come flying at him. His reaction was quick but not quick enough and the alcohol splashed the side of his face.

On the other side of the table, Ruby held a near-empty alcohol glass with the biggest smile on her face. Then it was finally her turn to laugh at him. It had been a long time since she genuinely laughed. She had gotten him, and even though it was childish, the little bit of payback she had achieved made her feel great. The blank stare he gave her while he tried to wipe the alcohol from his eyes and hair made it all the better.

"I didn't think you had it in you," he said. "To toss a drink back into a guy's face have after he lovingly gave it to you. Are you sure you're not the evil one?"

Ruby stopped laughing instantly feeling almost sick that she had done it in the first place. She had gotten too caught up in the mood and had forgotten just who was sitting across from her. "I'm sure," she replied, her eyes narrowing, "what you did is unforgivable. You deserve much more than just getting a drink thrown at you." This wasn't a friendly chat with some distant acquaintance. Mercury was a criminal who had framed her sister and been involved with killing two of her best friends.

Strange how talking with him now made it feel so distant, but then, he had infiltrated them for nearly a semester without anyone being wise to his true character.

"Aww, I'm not that bad," Mercury fake whined seeming to forget all about the drink he had just been covered in.

"You are."

Mercury drummed his fingers on the table as he looked back at the bar counter. "How about I prove I'm not so bad by helping you out," he said after some contemplation.

"I don't believe you," Ruby replied.

Mercury smirked, which Ruby was quickly realizing was his normal expression, and got up from the chair. "Follow me," he said.

Ruby did if nothing else than to keep an eye on him. The duo walked over to the bartender, who didn't exactly look excited to see them. "What do you want?"

"Same thing she wanted before," Mercury said pointing his thumb at her, "a job."

"I don't got any for little kids."

"I'm sure you do. We might only be students but that just means you don't have to pay us—"

"Us?" Ruby exclaimed.

"—a professional commission. Plus, if we really are all just bluster and bravo, and we end up dying, you won't have to pay us at all. You also don't seem like the type of man that will be too torn up if we don't come back."

The barkeep looked and Mercury then looked at Ruby, judging them. "Fine, I'll bite. There's a pretty good-sized nest of Griffons a few miles east of here. They haven't done anything but the fact they're so close is making people nervous, which only makes them more likely to do something. Deal with it and I'll give you 200 lien."

"Each?" Mercury asked.

"Don't push your luck, kid," the bartender grumbled. "I'm buying you from the bargain bin. If you don't like it, don't take it."

"Can't blame me for trying. Come on Red. Let's go discuss our plan."

Ruby glared at Mercury as he strutted towards the exit. She wasn't some dog to be led around, and why did all the bad guys call her Red. Was it really that hard for them to use her name!

The duo left the bar and onto the street. There was maybe only one or two other people wandering around now that the sun had set, and unlike, Vale there weren't any streetlight so the only light they got was the soft glow of the shattered moon which wasn't a lot.

Mercury leaned against the wall of the building next to the bar and shoved his hands into his pocket. "I say we head out at dawn. That way we can collect our reward by lunch."

"Wait just a second," Ruby argued. "Who said anything about doing this mission together?"

"I did. I was the one to get the job after all. You didn't even say a single word. If anything, you should be asking why I'm allowing _you_ to come with me."

Ruby was glad the darkness kept the red in the cheeks hidden. "But I was the one who asked about it first. Why do you even want this job?"

"This might come as a surprise to you, but I have to make money too. If you really don't want to work with me that's fine, I can easily handle a few Griffons on my own. Of course, if you want to try and undercut me you can try heading out now, but unless you're secretly a faunus, I don't think fighting in the dark is going to work out well for you."

Ruby wished she could say something to wipe that smug confidence away, but she couldn't because everything he had said was true. She hated him for it. "Fine, we'll go together," she grumbled.

"Excellent," Mercury clapped his hands, "I'll meet you outside the inn when the sun rises. Don't be late or I'll leave without you."

"Whatever," Ruby replied still not happy with the agreement.

Mercury pushed off the wall and headed down. "Seen you then, partner," he said before the darkness consumed him.

"I'm not your partner!" Ruby yelled stomping her foot in the dirt.

The night gave no reply.

Ugh, what an awful day. Not only had getting here sucked but at the end of it all she had met a mean bartender and ran into Mercury of all people. She still couldn't quite believe it. What was he doing out here? Why had been so casual with her, and as much as she hated to admit it, helped her get a mission?

None of it made sense. He was a criminal—someone who helped plot the downfall of Beacon. He should be out doing other evil deeds, not just hanging around in the middle of nowhere and chatting up the people he betrayed.

Ruby's shoulders dropped as both mental and physical exhaustion took over. Maybe it would all make more sense in the morning after she had a good night's sleep. She just needs to check into the inn and—

Her eyes shot open as she looked around at all the buildings that surround her. Oh crap, no sign and now no light. How was she supposed to find the inn? Mercury was the only person who she knew to ask and he had just left without giving any directions.

She had a strong feeling he had done it on purpose.

Ruby's shoulders stiffened and her fist clenched as all the stress of the day had finally reached its boiling point. "When I get my scythe on you, you're going to be begging me for mercy!"


	2. Chapter 2

** Beta**: ShadowMeister234

_Grimm covered the sky. People were screaming and guns were firing. The dragon roared as it did another flyby on Beacon. It was a nightmare, and Ruby couldn't do a thing about any of it. _

_ "You got spirit Red, but this is the real world."_

_ Roman was in front of her and she didn't have her weapon._

_ "The real world is cold."_

_ He hit her with her cane again. She couldn't avoid it. She had used too much energy fighting both him and Neo._

_ "The real world doesn't care about spirit."_

_ She kicked him in the shin and managed to put some distance between them, but it wouldn't be enough. Without Crescent Rose, she didn't think she could win this fight._

_ "You want to be a hero then play the part and die like every other Huntsman in history."_

_ He hit her again and it made her head spin. She realized Roman was probably going to kill her and just like everything else, she couldn't do a thing about it._

_ "As for me, I'll do what I do best."_

_ Ruby saw the Griffon approaching. It was heading right towards Roman. This might be her chance to get away and retrieve her weapon._

_ "Lie, steal, cheat and survive!"_

_ The Griffon landed behind Roman. He didn't notice and before she could do a thing about it, the Griffon shallowed him whole. Then the Grimm laughed. It laughed as Roman's voice continued to sound in Ruby's ears. _

_ "I thought you were a hero, Red."_

_ "I thought you were supposed to save people."_

_ "So why did you let me die?"_

* * *

Silver eyes shot open as Ruby frantically looked around trying to figure out where she was. Her forehead was sweaty and her fingers were clenched around the bedsheets as she examined the unfamiliar room.

It only took her a couple more seconds to remember that she had booked a room at the only inn this town with no name had. Once she figured that out, she was able to control the rapid rise and fall of her chest.

She hadn't had that dream in a while. It had probably come back thanks to the stress of being in an unfamiliar place and running into Mercury of all people. Thankfully, she hadn't woken up screaming like the first time she experienced it. Her dad had come baring into her room with his huntsman weapon when he heard her.

Roman was a bad guy, who was probably responsible for tons of deaths after he unleashed Atlas' robot army onto Vale, but that didn't mean she had wanted to kill him. She had just wanted the Grimm to distract Roman for a bit. She just wanted to buy some time. Instead, she had let a Griffon devour him.

Her dad explained to her that she wasn't responsible for Roman's death, and she knew that, but that didn't change the fact that if she had said something—had warned him—he might still be alive. Of course, it was also possible that she would be dead in his place, but the thing about what-ifs is you never really know.

Ruby looked over to the bedside table. She had beat her alarm by about twenty minutes which sucked because it wasn't enough time to go back to sleep but enough that she really wished she could.

Stupid Mercury, why did they have to start at the crack of dawn? There wasn't any rush.

Ruby thought about just going back to bed and let him handle the mission, but the whole reason she was out here was to do these kinds of things. So as much as she grumbled, Ruby still slide herself out of her uncomfortable bed and into the shower.

The water was lukewarm at best.

* * *

Mercury was already in the lobby, leaning against a wall with his foot pressed up against it. Honestly, she hadn't expected him to actually be here. He definitely felt like the type of person that would have made her wait for an hour or two before showing up for the time he set.

Not that she would have waited for him anyway.

He noticed her and waved her over, making it much more of a display then he needed. The only other person in the lobby was a faunus receptionist that looked only a few minutes away from falling asleep.

Ruby walked over to the wall and leaned up against it as she looked up at the grey assassin.

"See, I knew we could get along," he said. "We're already friendly enough for you to come over when I call you."

Ruby balked as she realized what she had done. "We are not friends. I only came up to you because we're supposed to be going on a mission."

"But didn't you say you could easily handle a few Griffons on your own?"

"You said that!"

"So, you can't handle this on your own?" Mercury teased, smiling with all his teeth. "You need your good friend Mercury to assist you."

"Of course not," Ruby fumed, "I don't need you at all."

"Not even a little bit?" Mercury said leaning into her

"No."

"Not even a teeny-weeny bit." He leaned in even closer

"No."

"Not even an itty-bitty—"

"No!" Ruby yelled, throwing her hand forward to push him away. It was something he easily avoided but the result was the same.

"So, why didn't you just walk out that door and ignore me?"

Ruby looked at the entrance to the inn, which was on the other side of the lobby, then looked to Mercury, who she was standing next to. "T-that's because…listen it's really early in the morning so I'm really tired and not thinking straight."

"Tired!" Mercury replied, placing his hand on his chest like his heart hurt. "Why didn't you say something earlier. You could have slept in a little longer if you wanted to. We aren't in any rush."

She was this close to ripping her hair out. Ruby had always believed that Yang was as bad as it could possibly get, but Mercury had proven her wrong and this was only their second real conversation.

"Do you enjoy it?" Ruby asked, the irritation clear.

"Enjoy what?"

"Being an ass."

He gasped. "A young girl like you shouldn't be using that kind of language. What would your mother think if she heard you?"

Ruby decided it was time to take Mercury's advice. She pushed off the wall and headed towards the exit not even looking to see what Mercury was doing.

He followed her, of course. "Hey, you can't just leave your partner behind. It's very rude."

Ruby growled.

* * *

The worst part about any mission was the traveling. Whether it was just trying to calm your nerves or fighting off boredom, it was always the same. At least, that's how it had always been for Ruby on the few training missions she had done for Signal and Beacon.

Mercury, however, did not seem to have that problem. The unlikely duo had been walking for about two hours and during that time Mercury had never stopped talking once. He had never been like this back at Beacon. From what Ruby remembered he had been pretty quiet, so was this his true personality, or did he just want to get a reaction from her that badly?

If it was the latter, she would refuse to give him one. She wasn't going to play his game any longer.

"Wow, black panties that's pretty bold of you."

Ruby's face broke out in red as her hand instinctively pushed her skirt against her butt despite Mercury having no way to actually see under it since he was still standing next to her. His head a good foot above hers.

His smirk said he got exactly what he wanted, though. "So, judging by your reaction I'm guessing I was right."

"No! And don't even think about making any more guesses."

"But, now you've tempted me. How is a male like myself supposed to resist thinking about it?"

"Find a way," Ruby grumbled, pushing forward so she was walking in front of him. He easily matched his pace to her. Stupid long legs. If she used her semblance, she could get away from him easily.

"You're not thinking of running away from me, are you?" Mercury said with fake sadness. Complete with his knuckles under his mouth and watery eyes.

"How did you know?" Ruby shouted without thinking.

Mercury actually turned serious for a moment as he placed his arms at his side and explained. "You're really easy to read. You think with your face and every little thought is written right there. People are going to take advantage of that, especially out here if you don't work to fix it. You probably shouldn't blurt things out either. Not that I'm complaining. It's great fun for me."

Did Mercury just give her real and helpful advice?

"Hey, I can be nice."

"Stop reading my mind! These are personal thoughts."

"How will you learn to be better at hiding it if I don't call you out?"

Ruby groaned. She just wanted to get this mission over with.

Up ahead she saw a Beowolf stalking towards them. She swiftly deployed Crescent Rose into its sniper mode. Thinking she could release some of her frustrating she took aim and sent a bullet right through its head. The Grimm dropped immediately and started to evaporate.

Mercury whistled. "Nice, fell even faster than Beacon."

Ruby wiped around, her blood boiling at what she just heard. "How can you joke about that?"

He didn't look the least bit apologetic. "Because it's funny."

"People died—you helped kill them."

"Are we really going to go through all this again? Didn't you get it out of your system last night?"

"People died because of you," Ruby repeated.

Mercury sighed, "and I'm the bad guy who needs to be punished for his crimes, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then how about you punish me right now." Mercury turned to face her then suddenly dropped to his knees so his eyes her level with her stomach.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"There's no bar full of people to stop you now. You're free to do whatever you want." He grabbed her gun, which he was only able to do because she was so shocked, and placed the barrel up against his forehead. "You can have your justice."  
"I'm not going to kill you!" Ruby said, her body trembling.

"Why not? People died because of me so shouldn't that be my punishment." His hand traveled up her weapon and his fingers inched towards the trigger.

Snapping out of her stunned daze, Ruby yanked her weapon to the side accidentally firing off a shot into the ground beside them as she did. Mercury just looked at the smoking crater, smiled, and stood back up, brushing the dirt and grass off his pant legs.

Meanwhile, Ruby's heart was pounding in her ears, her blood was rushing through her veins, her arms were shaking so bad that she could see he weapon sway. It took a while to calm herself down and by the time she did Mercury had already walked a little way ahead of her.

She raced to catch up. "What would you have done if that bullet had hit you?" Ruby reprimanded.

"I guess I would be dead."

"So why did you do it!"

Mercury smiled again as he looked down at her. He examined her like she was some pet at a store. It made her very uncomfortable. "I knew you didn't have it in you to pull the trigger. Although that's not exactly a bad thing," he whispered as he faced forward.

"What was that last part?" Ruby asked.

"We've got company," Mercury said ignoring the question and pointing to the tree line where 30 Griffon had just flown above. "It looks like we've found our nest. Think you can handle it?"

Ruby didn't hesitate to shoot one then a second out of the sky before reloading and thrusting the back of her scythe into the ground. "Maybe, you should be more worried about yourself," she said becoming much more confident now that the action was about to start. "How are you going to hit them with only your kicks?"

Mercury shrugged. "I have my ways."

The Griffons descended on them a moment later, and it was a massacre—for them. Ruby easily cut them down with her scythe while Mercury hopped around slamming his boot into wings and faces while shooting off projectiles, that Ruby remembered seeing from the Vytal Festival, at the ones he couldn't reach.

Within a few minutes, the Grimm had already lost half their force while neither Ruby or Mercury were worse for wear. They didn't really work together as they fought the grimm, but they did stay out of each other's way. It was a pretty easy and effective system and they were both strong enough to take care of themselves.

It wasn't long before all of the Griffon were cleared out.

"Well that wasn't much fun," Mercury said, facing Ruby. "I guess we should head a little farther just to make sure. Last thing I want to do is be forced to come back out here."

Just as he said that a Griffon they hadn't completely killed appeared behind him with its mouth wide open, ready to take a bite. Ruby's heart nearly leaped out of her chest as she screamed a warning, but she hadn't needed to bother.

Before the first syllable left her mouth, Mercury had already raised his leg, almost doing the splits, to kick the Grimm in its face. Then he flipped over and stomped it's face into the ground, shattering its bone armor and putting it down for good.

"Did you say something?" he said, hopping down from the disengaging corpse.

Ruby held her fist to her chest trying to calm her racing heart. She wasn't designed to deal with these shocks one after another. "It was nothing," she replied. _And it was nothing because_ _everything was okay. He hadn't been eaten. She hadn't let someone else die._

Mercury looked at her strangely, but whatever he saw he decided not to mention.

"Let's keep moving," he said.

* * *

Ruby and Mercury were back at the bar sitting at the same table they had first conversed at with a pile of lien between them, 200 exactly. The bartender had kept his word and now the bar was in full swing with people drinking and yelling as they celebrated the extermination of the Grimm nest as if they had done it themselves. They had even brought in a guy to play guitar so people could dance to the music. The barkeep was probably going to make his 200 lien back, easy.

No one came over and offer to buy them a drink or even say "thank you." They just kept on partying. It was probably going to last through the night which was saying a lot since it was barely past noon.

"You seem upset," Mercury said. "Mad that they aren't giving you the recognition you deserve? Angry that they aren't bowing down to your greatness?"

"It's not that," Ruby argued half-heartedly. "I never want to be the center of attention, but they could at least try to include us in the celebration. They're acting like we don't exist."

"That's just how things are out here. They don't hate us," Mercury explained, "but we're not them. We're outsiders to this place. If we wanted to be included in this celebration, we should have brought some of the villagers on the mission along with us, but that would have been a stupid decision for us and a dangerous one for them."

"Why is it like that?"

"You really don't get it, do you?" Mercury chuckled. "Think about from their perspective. To them, Huntsmen are people from the big cities that only stop by when it's convenient or when they're already in trouble, and when Huntsmen do show up they expected to be paid which, of course, settlements have to do so since that the only way they can hope to survive out here in the long run. Then once the Huntsmen have finished their work they leave without another thought. Also, I imagine having to pay half-pint like you to solve their problems strings their pride?"

"That doesn't make any sense. Huntsmen have to make a living too. It's also our job to hunt Grimm. No one should feel bad that someone who's trained their entire life to fight Grimm is better at it than them."

"I didn't say it had to make sense. I just said that's how they feel." Mercury glanced over to the ongoing party and specifically the bartender who actually had a smile on his face. "Huntsmen aren't cheap, and in places outside the city walls where money isn't that plentiful it must be quiet the burden to have to pay a Huntsmen or Huntress."

Ruby looked at the pile of lien between them, sadly. "Should we return it?"

"Don't be stupid," Mercury hissed, taking his share of the money from the pile and shoving it into his pocket. "You said it yourself, we have to make a living too, and besides even though we're only "students," we were severely shortchanged. If we pushed it we could have easily asked for 500. A professional Huntsman could have gotten closer to 800, maybe even 1000. This party they're having is probably just as much a celebration of how badly they undercut us as it is about the Griffon nest itself."

Ruby looked a little harder at the partiers and saw that Mercury and her weren't actually being completely ignored. Every once in a while, a patron would turn towards them with a self-satisfied smirk before returning to their drinking or dancing. "They think we're idiots," Ruby realized.

"I wouldn't go that far," Mercury corrected. "More like we're inexperienced kids that don't know how much money our skills are worth out here, and to be fair you didn't. I bet that old Mr. Bartender recognized you were at least capable of dealing with the Grimm the moment you whipped out your weapon. He was just hoping you'd be frustrated enough to do the job for free in order to prove it."

Ruby desperately wanted to deny that but deep down she knew she would have done just that. "But you knew how much our skills were worth."

"I did."

"So why didn't _you_ push it?"

"I did ask for 200 lien each."

"But you dropped it without a fight. I want to know why."

"Who knows," Mercury said as he put his feet on the table and leaned his chair back so it was only standing on two legs. "Maybe I just didn't care about the money. Maybe I have a crush and the bartender, or maybe I tried helping you out by teaching you to think more like a Huntress than a hero. Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime, and all that. It could be any one of those or it could be something completely different."

"I have a feeling it's the last one," Ruby mumbled.

"Well, that's just a feeling."

"Why is it bad to think like a hero. Heroes are the good guys," Ruby said not willing to let it drop.

Mercury just smirked. "Heroes sacrifice everything for people they don't know. They're pushed around by anyone with a sob story. They end up beaten, bloody and lienless because they don't feel it's right to be rewarded for their hard work. Heroes are made to die."

Ruby felt a chill race up her spine as she thought about the mother she could barely remember. "That's not true."

"What to hear a story? I swear it's true," Mercury said before starting it without waiting for a response. "There once was a skilled Huntsman who went from settlement to settlement taking on every single mission they had. Now, this Huntsman had inherited quite a bit of money from his late family, so he didn't have to worry about making a profit. Because of that, he offered up his talents for free. The people loved him for it and cheer on his arrival. He became famous throughout the kingdom, but his actions had some very serious consequences. Because his name and his generosity were so well known, towns and villages would rather wait for him to arrive then pay for another Huntsman to do the job.

"This pushed many Huntsmen out of work. The only missions they could take were the truly desperate ones, posted by people who could wait no longer, to deal with Grimm packs that had grown too large and dangerous because they hadn't been culled earlier. Many Huntsmen didn't have what it took to survive these onslaughts and lost their lives, and with them the villages they had been tasked with defending fell as well.

"Sick of hearing about their friends' deaths and watching their families starve because they couldn't make any money, a group of Huntsmen pooled all the money they had and hired an assassin to kill the heroic Huntsman, and that's just what the assassin did; buried the Huntsman in a ditch somewhere in the woods, but the story doesn't end there. Now that the generous Huntsman was dead, villages had to start paying up again, but many Huntsmen had been going so long without proper income they would only offer their skills at a premium. Now instead of paying moderately large amounts over time, settlements were forced to hand over ridiculous amounts of money all at once, more often than not placing themselves in finical ruin.

"So, at the end of it all, the hero of the story only succeeded in letting settlements be destroyed and getting him and a bunch of other Huntsmen killed." Mercury finished his tale by letting his chair slam back onto four legs and causing Ruby to jump at the sudden noise.

"Anyway," Mercury continued as he got out of his chair, "I think it's time for me to leave. Don't want to start traveling too late in the day."

Ruby's head shot up. "Wait, you're leaving?"

"Yep, there's nothing left for me here, and like I told you, once a Huntsman has finished their work they leave without a second thought."

"Where will you go?"

"Wherever the road takes me. It's a big world out there and I'm finally free to explore it. Though, I did have fun hanging out you, Ruby."

Then, just like that, Mercury was gone.

* * *

Ruby tossed and turned unable to go to sleep in her uncomfortable inn bed. She had taken another job from the bartender, so she was spending another night in this town with no name. The job was minor compared to the Grimm nest, so her pay was being undercut even more, but since she had already gotten a low payment for the first job, she couldn't exactly turn it back on the bartender now.

Maybe that was just the hero-thinking that Mercury had been so critical of, but who cared about that guy! She didn't want to think about him anymore. He was the reason she couldn't get to sleep.

Sadly, the more you try to forget about something the more you think about it. Ruby tossed and turned some more, got up and paced around, fluffed her pillow then fell into it. Nothing worked. She was still as awake as ever.

It was all Mercury's fault. Now that he was gone, and Ruby had searched everywhere just to make sure, she had no choice but to accept that he really was in this settlement for no particular reason. It didn't make sense to her. He had destroyed her perception of him. Bad guys were supposed to do bad things. They weren't supposed to hang around frontier settlements and give life advice to people they tried to kill not so long ago.

Good guys were supposed to do good things. Ruby didn't want to think about how people's—her—actions might have unintentionally caused someone harm. Hadn't she and her team chased Roman in a Paladin down a major highway?

Miss. Goodwitch had chewed them out for it afterward, but had people been hurt? Had people been killed! It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now that she thought about it, would it have been better to let him get away? In the end, they didn't gain anything from fighting him but maybe that was just hindsight playing tricks on her.

In the same vein, should she have stooped Mercury from leaving?

He had escaped justice, but if he was telling the truth and really did just want to wander the frontier then maybe the knowledge that he would never again try to hurt her friend was enough. It wasn't her job to chase him down and soon enough this meeting would just be a distant memory.

It wasn't like she would be running into him again.


	3. Chapter 3

** Beta**: ShadowMeister234

If anyone had told Ruby that the majority of her time as a Huntress would be spent walking, she guessed she would have believed them, but thinking about it and doing it were completely different. Settlements usually weren't that close together, so that meant a lot of time traveling on barely maintained dirt roads and sometimes no roads at all. She was exhausted, and her feet had never felt so sore. She was glad she had purchased such durable boots, or they would have fallen apart long ago, and out here, they wouldn't be easy to replace.

But, even with all her hardships, Ruby felt better about herself than she had since Beacon fell. It felt good to help people. Not all of them appreciated it, but there were many who did. There were still a few pears sitting in her bag from a nice old lady who's farm Ruby had patrolled for the last two days.

The lien in her pocket was also a nice feeling. She had gotten better at negotiating her prices. Her strategy was to basically to increase the prices if they were rude to her and decrease them if they were friendly. In theory, she had a limit to how low she would go, but realistically she knew that if anyone in need couldn't, or wouldn't pay, she wouldn't be able to turn them down. Luckily, no one had picked up on that yet.

Ruby still felt a little bad about charging people so much, but the farther away you went from Vale the more expensive everything got. In essence, every step she took made her just a little bit poorer. Normally Ruby wouldn't have cared since food and shelter (prices for those stayed pretty consistent thanks to all the farms) were all she really desired, but Crescent Rose needed constant maintenance and the parts for that weren't easy to come by let alone buy.

As sacrilege as it was to have negative thoughts about her baby, Ruby had to admit that her weapon wasn't well suited to this rough and tumble traveling. She had designed it to be as cool and versatile as possible which meant having a lot of moving parts, but it was for that very reason that she was having so much difficulty. Dirt, dust, grass, leaves and all other sorts of nature would find their way inside and gunked up the components. The constant use was also damaging some of the more delicate mechanisms. Particularly the blade was growing dull and she could only sharpen it so many times before she sharpened it into nothing. It hadn't affected her combat ability as of now, but she feared for the day it became hard to make a clean cut, or worse something broke and she didn't have the parts to fix it.

She felt bad for making fun of Jaune's sword at the beginning of the year. He wouldn't be having these kinds of problems. Ren's weapons were relatively simple too although having to purchase enough dust round to keep them filled would be a nightmare. Nora's weapon would've been destroyed within a week, and Pyrrha's…Pyrrha's would have been about on par with Ruby's—_would_ have been.

She wondered what the remaining members of Team JNPR were doing, and how they were feeling? Were they happy with their decision to go to Mistral? She hoped so even if she hadn't gone with them, and she also hoped that Jaune was doing better. It was probably a long shot for him to have gotten passed his partner's death, but at least he had the rest of his team. He had friends to help him through it.

It was more than she had.

She felt her eyelids start to droop down but forced them back open as she watched the sun start to dip below the horizon. The next settlement was still a fair distance away but she could probably make it there before dawn if she hurried. It would suck walking through the night again but she could rest up when she got there.

A few hours later, with the fatigue really starting to drain her, she noticed the light from campfire farther up the road. She had met a few travelers while on these roads, but she had never seen someone light a fire, at least not an obvious one, before. They all too easily attracted Grimm and bandits. Whoever had made that one was either insanely brave or insanely stupid.

She decided to approach if only to warn the person who lit it if nothing else. She wandered through the small patch of trees the light was tucked inside. She could just about make out the actual fire when all of the sudden something wrapped around her leg and her viewpoint was suddenly flipped upside down.

"Eep!" She dangled a few feet off the ground swinging and swaying as she struggled against the rope around her foot. It was a useless endeavor; the rope wasn't coming off no matter how much she moved. She couldn't even cut herself down since, by rotten luck, her weapon had come loose during the initial pull. It sat on the ground below her just out of her reach. It was taunting her, making her pay for all the mean thoughts she had about it.

"Well, what got caught this time?" a male voice said from the direction of the campfire.

Ruby released a sigh of relief. She could just explain what she had been doing, then he would let her down and she could be on her way. Obviously, this man was much more prepared than Ruby had given him credit for.

She twisted her body so she could get a better look at the person approaching her and at least try to have a polite conversation which would be a little difficult given the position she was in, but that all went out the window when she saw who it was.

The greeting she had been about to say died on her lips leaving her with an open mouth as she stared into the face of Mercury Black. Meanwhile, on the other end, the assassin had his eyes widen and his jaw relaxed as he realized who he had just snagged.

He was much quicker to recover and that annoying smirk was back on his face in an instant, then his eyes traveled upwards and the smirk only widened. "They are black! You liar."

Ruby was very confused for a second before her cheeks exploded in a red tint as she caught on to what she was showing him. Her hand blurred with semblance enhanced speed to push her skirt back up and keep it from revealing any more. "They weren't on that day!"

"Then what color were they?"

"MERCURY!"

"Nice to see you too, Ruby."

"Let me down from here!"

"Let me take another peek and I will."

"I'll kill you!"

"Now I really don't want to let you down."

Ruby swung her body forward and tried to bite him. It almost worked too, but the assassin was just a bit too quick.

"Woah, alright no need to get feisty. I let you down like the proper gentlemen I am." Mercury walked behind the tree and out of Ruby's line of sight, so she was completely unprepared when the rope gave way and sent her plummeting to the ground.

Huntress training kicked in and she was able to roll herself to safety, but she got a face full of grass and knocked her forehead into Crescent Rose in the process.

"You okay," Mercury called out as he emerged from behind the tree.

"That could have broken my neck."

Mercury shrugged. "Eh, you've got aura."

Ruby's finger itched to take Crescent Rose and shoot that attitude right out of him, but she controlled herself. Mercury was still a criminal, but she didn't want a fight. Not only would the sound of gunfire be one of the few things better at attaching Grimm than a campfire, but even if she won, they were farther away from Vale, and the authorities that could arrest him, than they were during their first run-in.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, only to regret it a second later.

"You see, I was just sitting around, but then you came in and put on quite the show. It was the best entertain—"

Ruby ran up and kicked him in the shin. Only instead of Mercury, her toes were the ones to feel the pain even though her boot. "Ow! What the hell? Are your legs made of steel?"

"Actually." Mercury rolled up his pant leg and displayed the shiny metal that made up the lower half of his leg. Ruby sat transfixed as events that occurred at the Vytal Festival clicked into place.

"That's how you were walking around after Yang "broke" your leg."

"Bingo." He let his pant leg fall back down so it covered his argumentation. "It wasn't easy keeping them hidden you know. If your sister had noticed she punched metal instead of flesh during the festival there would have been some issues. Thankfully she was too hyped up on her own semblance to notice."

Ruby clutch her weapon even tighter. "Is that why you targeted her?"

"Don't put it all on us. It was your team that decided to send the hothead into the finals."

"What if we hadn't?"

Mercury shrugged. "With Emerald's semblance, we could have pulled that trick on a lot of people, but if we were truly stuck, then we had other ways to bring the negativity. We could have used the footage Roman got us of your sister destroying that nightclub unprovoked to show that Huntsmen were unrestrained monsters who are free to do whatever they please. We could have spread the fact the Ozpin allowed Blake Belladonna, a high-ranking member of a terrorist group into his school. That would have gone down well with Atlas, or if we wanted to go in the other direction, we could have dug up some dirt on the SDC's less than humane practices and presented it in a way where the blame was pushed onto Weiss. Basically, your whole team is a walking disaster."

Ruby fumed at appalling assessment, but she couldn't really deny it. Her team had been a mess from the very beginning. Every time they stepped outside of Beacon they seemed to get into trouble. She would admit that she was also to blame, but she couldn't be held responsible for everything her team got into… although she really didn't have a team anymore, did she?

Suddenly Mercury's eyes were in front of her own as he bent down to her level. "What's with this doom and gloom? For what it's worth, Cinder was the one to single out your team. I didn't care either way."

"Can you be quiet for just five seconds?"

'"Emerald always wanted five minutes. Glad to see you're more appreciative." Mercury stood back up and interlaced his fingers behind his head as he stretched his back. "I was just about to have dinner before you got caught. You should join me."

"What? Why?"

"For food, of course?"

"I already ate," Ruby excused.

He rolled his eyes. "Then for the company."

"Who would go to you for company?"

"Apparently you would since this is the second time you've approached me. Are you a stalker?" He knew that it wasn't unthinkable they'd run into each other again. They were both wandering the frontier and there weren't that many roads to choose from.

Didn't stop Ruby from sputtering though. "I am not. This was just a coincidence, and I'm busy, so if you excuse me, I'll be on my way." She pattered her weapon to make sure it was properly attached to her back and stomped away.

Sadly, she immediately stepped into another snare and was yanked upwards. Back to being upside down, her arms waved frantically as they tried to prevent her skirt from falling down again. Luckily, Mercury didn't see anything because he was bent over laughing his guts out.

* * *

Ruby sat on a log by a campfire that had a rabbit roasting on top of it with Mercury sitting on a tree stump perpendicular to her. It was not a position Ruby wanted to be in, but it had been a requirement for him to get her down.

She could have cut herself down with her scythe, but that would have required her to let go of her skirt, and Mercury had threatened to take a picture if she did. She had no clue why he was so insistent on her joining, but if it was between sitting with him for a bit or having him burn the image of her underwear into his mind, the choice was easy. Plus, that rabbit did look pretty tasty,

"You're drooling," Mercury said, providing commentary nobody asked for. "I thought you already ate."

"I'm a growing girl. Sometimes I need to eat a lot," Ruby defended.

"Growing?" Mercury's eyes looked above her head, specifically the spot where her head would have been if she was a couple of inches taller. Ruby grew irritated as he just kept looking there as if he expected her to suddenly pop up to that height. She knew she wasn't the tallest girl around but she wasn't as short as Weiss.

The fire crackled which caused the assassin's gaze to finally leave the air above her head, and examine the progress of their meal, but not before signing in disappointment. Was he trying to get on her nerves! Or did he just do it subconsciously?

He decided that the rabbit was cooked enough, freed it from the fire, broke it in half, and handed one of those halves to her.

Her hand moved before her mind could tell them not to. It was hardly prime cooking but it had been a while since she had a hot meal, and the scent was just too intoxicating to pass up. She chewed through the entire rabbit in a very unladylike manner. She didn't even realize that Mercury watched the entire thing.

"Was it good?" He held up his part of the rabbit which he had yet to take a bit out of. "You can have mine if you want."

Ruby would be lying to herself if she said she didn't, but she resisted and told him "no." He tossed it to her anyway, and she caught it without missing a beat. "Why?" she asked, looking at the red and brown meat in her hands.

"Your thoughts are still written on your face. I could tell you wanted it."

"No, I mean why are you treating me like this? Why did you want me to have dinner with you?"

"Who knows."

"No, none of that!" Ruby stood up. "If you don't give me a real answer, I'm leaving right now."

Mercury caught her gaze, analyzed if she was bluffing, then he leaned back and looked up at the stars. "Mostly cause I'm bored. The towns and settlements are all the same, and even I get lonely with no one to talk to on these empty roads."

Ruby didn't know what to think about that, and she hid that from him by sitting back down and munching on her rabbit. Logically, she knew that he just wanted someone to torment, but it was the somber way he said it that made her brain take a pause. It was like he was truly missing something by not having that connection.

What a sadistic.

She finished the other half of her rabbit with that thought still running around in her mind, and eventually, she just had to ask. "Do you regret leaving your team?"

Mercury raised an eyebrow. "You mean Cinder and Emerald? Nah, neither of them would put out no matter how hard I tried."

Ruby threw a rabbit bone at him and watched it bounce off his nose. "I'm being serious."

"Why do you even care?"

"If you want my company you're going to have to humor me."

"Geez, you didn't have this attitude back at Beacon, but the answer is still no. Cinder is crazy. She's seeking power just because she wants it. I don't think she even has a plan for what to do if she gets it. Emerald is alright, I guess, but she's more loyal to Cinder than you would ever believe. She's not even comfortable with all this destroy the world stuff, but she'll do anything as long as Cinder pats her head and tells her what a good job she's doing. Needless to say, those two weren't for me."

Ruby stifled a yawn not wanting him to mistake it for her not being interested. "Then why were you with them in the first place?"

"What you _have _to do rarely ever lines up with what you _want_ to do."

Words that were eerily similar to Roman's. If it wasn't for Cinder, would any of the others have been involved at all? "Do you regret what happened to Beacon?"

"Didn't we already have this conversation back at the bar?"

She supposed they had, but Ruby still wanted to ask it. "Like if you could do it all over again would you do things differently?"

"No." The short and definitive answer gave Ruby whiplash. "Shocked, aren't you?" Mercury smirked. "You're thinking that I must want to change things because I wasn't perfectly satisfied with the situation, but here's what you're not understanding. The me of now is content with where he's sitting. Sure, things could have gone better but things could have also gone worse. You don't know what going back might change, and for me, it's not worth putting my outcome in jeopardy to try a make someone else's better. You're looking for heroics that aren't there."

"I guess I am," Ruby bitterly accepted.

Mercury just nodded and tossed a couple of sticks into the fire. Something growled nearby, then Ruby heard the familiar whip of one on Mercury's snares being set off. "Better go check that out. If we're lucky it will be something we can eat and not just a Grimm."

Mercury left and Ruby spent her time gazing into the fire. She should probably get going. She still had so much ground to cover and being her was only wasting time, but basking in the glow of the campfire with a full stomach was comforting and relaxing. Made her feel like she was back in Patch curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace with a blanket warped around her. It was warm and it made her feel sleepy—very sleepy.

She blinked once, then twice, then a third time before her eyelids slowly drifted shut and refused to open. She told herself that she was just resting them, and it wouldn't be for long.

"Don't go dozing off on me."

Ruby's eyes shot back open as Mercury stood directly in front of her. Frantically, she realized that more time had passed than she had been aware of. Not a lot of time, only a few minutes, but enough to tell her that said had indeed fallen asleep.

"I wasn't," she denied.

Mercury leaned in closer. "You've got some serious bags under your eyes. What have you been doing?"

Ruby turned away embarrassed. "It's none of your business."

"You forced me to answer your questions, but now you're going to clam up when I ask you? That's not very fair."

Ruby didn't respond.

"Fine." Mercury threw his hand into the air before plopping down right next to her. "But just so you know, nobody is going to thank you for working yourself to death."

"It's not like that," Ruby whispered.

"Huh, then what is it like?" Mercury pushed up against her so he was basically leaning over her shoulder and placing most of his weight on her. He was like a younger sibling trying to see what the older one was reading.

Ruby found it very uncomfortably and scooted away from him. Thankfully he didn't try to follow. "I can't sleep," she said.

"Usually there's a reason for that. Nightmares?" he guessed.

Yes, but those weren't the main reason. It was something else, something dumb. She decided to just come out in say it. Who cared if he made fun of her. He was going to do it no matter what she did. "I can't risk going to sleep while I'm out on the road. If a Grimm snuck up while I was asleep, I'd never notice it in time. Sharing a room with Yang and her snoring has ruined me."

She laid her head down and waited for Mercury's laughter, but it never came. Instead, he stared at her like she was some sort of never before seen creature. "Just how long have you been awake?"

Ruby calculated it in her head. She had left the farm pretty early in the morning and there had been a full day and night since then and it was night again so, "36 hours maybe."

Mercury's eyes widen. "The nearest settlement is at least eight hours from here. If you don't sleep till then you'll have been awake for almost two days."

"I'll be okay," Ruby said a little puzzled by Mercury's concern.

Mercury shook his head. "Maybe for this trip, but what happens when you get even farther from Vale and settlements are more than a week apart."

She didn't know, and if she couldn't find a way, she would have to abandon those far away settlements which went against the whole reason she was out here. She wouldn't let that happen. "I'll find a way."

"How about you rest here for the night. I'll keep watch so you don't have to worry about any Grimm."

"No."

"Come on, I promise I won't do anything to you."

Ruby wouldn't budge. She might have been okay with sitting around a campfire and talking to him, but there was no way she was going to leave herself defenseless in his presence. That he even offered to let her sleep at his camp in the first place made her wary of his intentions. Although, his promise had sounded sincere.

Mercury groaned and ran his finger through his hair. "I guess that's to be excepted. How about this, what if I teach you how to make snares and alarms." He pointed to his small brown tent where Ruby could barely make out a thin wire running around its perimeter. "It's how I keep Grimm from sneaking up on me."

Ruby eyed him skeptically. "Would you really teach me?"

"Sure, it's no problem." He stood up and grabbed some rope and a knife from the backpack by his tent. "Come on, it not that hard."

Ruby stayed where she was. "What's the catch."

He rolled his eyes. "There isn't one. I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart."

Ruby still didn't quite believe he had one of those, but the skills he was offering were too valuable to pass up. Eventually, she got up and followed him

For the next hour and a half, Mercury showed her how to tie the noose, how to crave the hook, and how to find good places to set them up. He led her through each process with much more patience and understanding than she thought someone like him could be capable of. She couldn't help but think that he would have made a good teacher.

Because of his instructions, and her own skills, it didn't take that long for her to make a successful snare. "I did it!" She celebrated by jumping up and down as she watched the test log swing above the ground.

"Good work," Mercury complimented. "Now I'll show you how to make an alarm. Those are much simpler, so it won't take that long."

They wander back over to the dimming campfire. Ruby took a seat right next to Mercury as he brought out some wire and a tin can. "The snares are your first line of defense," he explained, "but if a Grimm gets lucky or a bandit notices them then this alarm is your second line."

Ruby examined the can he held in front of her. "Will that really be enough to wake me up? I think you're underestimated how loud Yang snores. Blake sometimes slept in the hall."

Mercury only smiled like she had just questioned if the sky was really blue. He bent over and dumped a few rocks into the can then shook it. The sound it produced was grating to her ears. "It's a unique sound that you don't hear anywhere else. It will definitely wake you. Fill up four or five of these things, run a wire through them so they surround your camp and you're good to go."

"How do you learn to do this?" Ruby asked. "You don't strike me as the camping type."

"I taught myself how to make all kinds of things like this. Used them to trap my room before going to bed."

"Were you scared of the Bogeyman?" Ruby nudged his arm happy she came up with the jab so fast.

"No, I was protecting myself from a whole different kind of monster." There was a dangerous shimmer in his eyes which kept Ruby from digging any deeper. It was something close to the look Jaune had when he talked about going after Cinder. She didn't like that look. It scared her in more ways than one.

The assassin and the girl sat in silence, listening to the sounds of buzzing insects until the shimmer slowly faded from his eyes like a lazy morning mist.

"I know you already turned me down, but I can tell you're still really tired, so I'll offer again. Would you like to stay here for the night? You can have the tent, and you have my word that I won't try to open it."

Funnily enough, Ruby knew he was telling the truth, but it still wasn't something she would do. She stood and turned to face him. "The answer is still no. I'm going to take my chances on reaching the next settlement. I'll buy my own supplies for snares and alarms while I'm there, but thanks for the offer." She gave him a smile—a genuine one—and without waiting for a response, she was off in a burst of rose petals being careful to avoid all the snares that she knew where around.

Once she was a good distance away, she deactivated her semblance and looked back at the campfire she had spent the last few hours sitting by. She still wasn't sure what to make of Mercury Black, or why he did the things he did, but at the very least she didn't think she could call him an enemy any longer. She also had to admit that she hadn't disliked the time they shared, far from it. It was crazy, but maybe the assassin that worked to destroy Beacon wasn't that bad of a guy.

And maybe she wasn't as alone out here as she originally thought.


	4. Chapter 4

** Beta**: ShadowMeister234

Many settlements on the frontier still used horses as their main mode of transportation. Dust powered cars or anything similar were just too expensive. Even if they were more reasonably priced, the harsh frontier would quickly degrade them into useless hunks of metal.

Ruby really didn't mind the old-fashioned way of travel. She'd freely admit that the smell could have been better, but there was something peaceful about watching the lush landscape leisurely pass by instead of blasting through it on a bullhead. She was two days into her job of guarding this trading caravan and she still hadn't gotten bored of watching it.

Alright, "caravan" might've been too strong a word. Really it was just two horse-drawn wagons manned by an older man and his 28-year-old son, transporting their goods from their home village to a neighboring one. Though, it was still important enough work for them to justify hiring a guard. Ruby had already finished all the work in the town they were in, so she had agreed. She had even cut them a pretty good deal on the price.

Having a traveling companion for the road was also a nice bonus. The traps she had learned from Mercury made it save enough for her to travel long distances on her own, but they didn't do anything to alleviate the loneliness and boredom she felt when she traveled from one settlement to the next.

At the moment, she was sitting in the back wagon next to the father, Mr. Elms, with Crescent Rose by her side. Mr. Elms had his own rifle right behind him, and his son, Sapp, driving the wagon in front of them, had a rifle of his own. There had been no need to draw any of the weapons yet, but they were all prepared to be used at the slightest hint of danger.

"So, what will you be doing once we get to Cliff's Edge?" Mr. Elms bellowed. He reminded Ruby a lot of Professor Port, always smiling and jovial.

"I'll probably stay there for a bit, see if there are any Grimm exterminations that need to be done, then head on to the next village."

"Still, can't believe that someone as young as you is out hunting Grimm."

Yes, he had only mentioned it a dozen times so far. She knew she was young. He didn't have to keep bringing it up. "I've been training for this job my whole life, so there's no need to worry."

"So brave. I've seen my fair share of Grimm, and even took down a few, but I would never go out to hunt the beasts on my own. You're amazing for making a career out of it."

"It really isn't that big a deal, sir."

"Nonsense, Huntsman and Huntress are inspirations. Sticking their necks out for us whenever they can. I know some people around here don't like them, sorry about that, but I always appreciate seeing one around. Let's me sleep easy knowing my life is in good hands."

"Thank you but I'm not a true Huntress yet." Ruby was never good at handling praise.

"But of course you are. You're out here hunting Grimm, aren't you? It's the actions that make us who we are. If you're acting like a Huntress then you're a Huntress. Having some official license doesn't mean a thing."

"So, does that mean I can charge you more since I'm a _true_ Huntress," Ruby said, deflecting away some of a current embarrassment.

Mr. Elms paused for a moment, then had a nice long laugh. "Sorry little lass, but the deal has already been set. No going back on it now.

Ruby flashed him a smile. "That's a shame." They both shared another laugh.

"Hey Pa," the son yelled, "there's something on the road up ahead."

"What is it?" Mr. Elms yelled back.

"I can't really tell, but I think it is some kind of animal carcass. It's not that big, but it's spooking the horses. I think we're going to have to move it."

Mr. Elms released a deep sigh. "Alright, stop the horses and we'll see what we can do." The wagon slowed to a halt as the horses pulling them trotted around anxiously. Ruby saw the son jumped down from his wagon and made to do the same, but Mr. Elms stopped her. "You don't have to worry yourself with this. My boy and I will handle it. You just sit here and watch the goods."

Normally, Ruby might have been offended that she was basically being told to sit back and do nothing, but truthfully, she was glad she wouldn't have to touch the corpse of some animal that had probably been sitting out in the sun for days. If the masculine side of the Elm's family wanted to spare the young girl from such a gruesome task, that was just fine with her.

Mr. Elms got off the wagon, but before he could take as much as a single step to assist his son, an arrow pierced the side of the wagon.

"You dumbass!" someone yelled from the tree line. "You're supposed to wait till they're carrying the deer."

"I'm sorry, my hand slipped," a much more timid voice replied.

"Nothing we can do about it now. EVERYONE FIRE!"

Ruby slid off the wagon as a volley of arrows landed on top of it. Luckily none of the horses were hit.

"It's a bandit attack!" Sapp pushed his back up against the wagon as another volley struck the other side.

"I can see that!" Mr. Elms grabbed his gun and shot into the tree line where he thought the arrows had come from. The horses shuffled and reared, but they didn't run away with their only cover.

"How many do you think there are?" Ruby asked as she looked through the scope of her sniper.

"Not that many. Maybe six or seven. If there were more than they would have ambushed us from both sides, and knocked over a tree to block our path instead of just laying out the corpse of an animal."

"This isn't the first time this has happened to you, has it?" Ruby asked.

"You have to get used to it hauling goods from one town to the next. Stupid thugs will attack anything with property and a heartbeat. Why do you think I hired you?"

She had thought it was to protect against Grimm, but now that she thought about it, bandits were probably just as much of an issue. Maybe even more of one since they could plan and reason.

Another arrow flew over her head, and she quickly peeked over the wagon and caught a glimpse of one of the bandits fumbling with his bow. She quickly positioned her crosshairs over him and pulled the trigger, hoping to knock one of their opponents out of the fight.

And she did. Just not in a way she ever wanted to.

Her bullet ripped through the bandit's head, popping his skull like an egg. Blood, brain tissue, skin, hair, and even part of his eyes flew off into the air. What remained of his face tightened into a distant expression like it couldn't quite believe what had just happened to it. A second later, after the body processed the events, the bandit fell back, his hands still clutching the arrow he was struggling to knock.

It was an event that Ruby got to witness in every grisly detail through her high-zoom scope. _He doesn't have any aura_, Ruby's mind decided to inform her a bit too late.

She had just killed someone.

Blown their brains right out of their head.

She hadn't meant to. She had done it without thinking. In combat class when you were presented with an opening you took it. Of course, everyone in Beacon had an aura.

He had not.

Now he was dead.

It was her fault.

"Nice shooting!" Mr. Elms gave her a rough pat on the back. He was congratulating her for the life she just took.

She was frozen in place. Movement was a foreign concept to her right now. She just kept looking through her scope at the empty air where a living person once stood. The event played in her brain over and over again.

Her legs were shaking and she felt like her lungs were filled with rocks. The fight continued on around her, but she wasn't even attempting to keep track of it. Eventually, Mr. Elms noticed something was wrong.

"Are you okay?" He placed a hand on her shoulder and that was enough to send her crumbling to her knees. "Woah, woah, what's up with you."

He didn't even seem to consider that this was her first time taking a life, or that she could be in shock from doing so. Why should he? She was supposed to be a Huntress. She faced off against the terrifying creatures of Grimm. What was taking the life of some bandit compared to that?

She wanted to explain to him that this wasn't what she wanted. That she had become a huntress to save lives not take them, but the words wouldn't come out.

It wouldn't have mattered even if they had because as Mr. Elms was trying to determine what was wrong with his hire, an arrow pierced the side of his neck, going all the way until the tip came through the other side. Blood gurgled passed his lips as he fell to the side. His head hit the side of the wagon and slid down the rest of the way until his body came to rest just behind the wagon's front wheel

This was her fault too. Mr. Elms had just died because she couldn't cope with what she had done. Her mind was experiencing the world from a distance. It had been her job to protect him, yet she had sat there and watched him die without moving a finger. But, despite knowing that, she continued to remain stationary. Her body refused. There were two people who could never move again because of her; why should she be allowed to?

She could hear the bandit that had killed Mr. Elms cheering. Whether the bandit had snuck around to their side or had been hiding there the whole time, she didn't know.

An arrow struck her chest, but unlike everyone else, she had the luxury of having it bounce off her aura.

It was something the bandit that tried to off her took great notice of. "Shit! The girl has aura."

"That's right," Sapp yelled, "we've got a Huntress on our side. You bastards aren't making it out of here alive!"

Those words actually seemed to do the trick in spooking them. The bandits might have badly outnumbered them, but everyone knew just how powerful a Huntress could be. The fact said huntress was on her knees being about as useful as a statue didn't seem to register with them.

The arrows stopped firing and there was a shuffle of bushes and leaves. Just like that, it was over. The bandits had decided to cut their losses on mere words alone. Was that how much a Huntress was really worth out here? It seemed insane, and yet she was reminded of how easy it had been to kill that bandit. It had only taken one well-placed shot to end his life, but how many blows would it have taken the bandits to deplete her aura. If she had been using her semblance how likely would they have been to even hit her in the first place? It made her feel sick thinking about how easy it would have been to rush them and cut through them with her scythe.

Sapp walked over, gun still clutched in his hands, with a huge smile on his face. At least until he saw the body of his pa, and his face morphed into something somber. He didn't wail, and he didn't cry. He just looked at the body, and then at her in her broken state and reached a very wrong conclusion.

"It's not your fault."

_But it is._

"These…" he was starting to choke up but there were still no tears. "These things happen. I appreciate you protecting us even if it ended like this. Sometimes there just ain't nothing you can do about it."

_But I didn't protect you at all. I didn't do anything._

"So, thank you."

_No, don't thank me. You should hate me. You should be crying over your dad's body and yelling at me. Tell me that I'm worthless and that none of this would have ever happened if I was a real Huntress. Don't just accept it._

Ruby honestly would have felt better if he slapped her. She deserved it, but the man who had just lost his father didn't even look at her with anger. He just wiped his eyes which were finally brimming with tears on his sleeve and turned towards the wagon. "I'm going to make sure the horses are okay and load my pa into the wagon. If you don't mind checking around and making sure that none of those cowardly bastards stuck around, I'd much appreciate it."

Ruby was able to bring herself to her feet only because she knew that Sapp was really asking to have some time alone with his dad. With everything else she had screwed up, she refused to take this moment away from him.

Her exploration took her right to the bandit she had killed. That was probably on purpose, but she couldn't be sure of herself at the moment.

The bandit was missing about a quarter of his face, and the rest was covered in a bloody smear. His one remaining eye looked up at Ruby, accusingly. She wanted to apologize to him; tell him it was all an accident, but the only _accident _here was him not having the means to survive the bullet she purposely shot at his face.

This wasn't like Torchwick. She fretted over the flamboyant crook's death endlessly, but she knew in her mind and deep in her heart that it really had just been an accident. There was no ambiguity for the corpse in front of her. She had murdered him.

He didn't look that much older than she was, probably around Yang's age. She didn't even know his name or what had led him to this moment. He might have been a good person at heart just caught up in the wrong group like Blake had been. Even if he had been bad, he could have changed—could have been better. Not anymore, she had taken that chance away forever.

Finally, the anxiety, guilt, and smell of a freshly butchered human caught up with her. She bent over and emptied her stomach onto the blood-soaked ground.

* * *

Mercury wandered around Cliff's Edge, named as such because—and get this—it was built on the edge of a cliff. The creativity was absolutely astounding. Allegedly this particular placement was to protect against Grimm. Grimm couldn't attack from the cliffside, so supposedly the settlement was safer than most. Now Mercury was no city planner, but following that line of reasoning meant the villagers also had one less side to escape from if they were attacked, but since the place was still standing, there must have been something going for it.

All he knew was that this place was just as boring and desolate as any other village. The only place on offer was a dingy little bar which was nothing new. Bars seemed to be a staple of any frontier settlement. He had yet to find a village that didn't have at least one. He didn't find the appeal of them. Who wanted to be surrounded by idiots who usually couldn't complete a coherent thought? Even those who drank in moderation were drowned out by those who felt the need to scream every other syllable. Then there was the smell. Drunks had the most disgusting stench imaginable. It was worse than blood and worse than death. He didn't know how people put up with it.

As far as Mercury was concerned, there was never a good reason for drinking. If he had the option he'd never step foot into a bar, but sadly out here, bars were usually the only place you could get a meal without having to cook it yourself, and more often than not they acted as the village's meeting room, so that's where all the Huntsmen jobs could be found. Basically, he was forced to play along. Thankfully, he had already cleared out all the jobs on offer so there was no more need to hang out with the degenerates.

Really there was no reason for him to even be in this village anymore, but he stuck around, scouring the streets looking for entertainment that wasn't there and spending more money at an inn that wasn't even comfortable.

Why did he do it?

He told himself that it was because moving on would only bring him to another washed-up village where the cycle would repeat, but the truth that he would never admit, not even really to himself, was he was hoping to run into a certain crimson tipped girl. Cliff's Edge was a sort of conjunction point for many of the roads around here, so it was more likely than not she'd pass through.

It was always possible that she could have beat him here and already moved on, but he didn't think that was likely. If she had been through, all the Grimm extermination jobs would have been done before he'd arrived.

If she was coming to Cliff's Edge at all, it would be sometime soon—and what do you know, he just caught a glance of a very distinctive red cloak. Mercury grinned as he prepared to go torment his favorite hyperactive victim.

Ruby seemed a little oblivious as she walked through the town. Didn't she know how dangerous not paying attention to your surroundings could be? Maybe her good friend Mercury could enlighten her.

He got as close behind her as he thought he could. "Did you miss me!" he half-shouted.

He expected her to panic and whirl around with her weapon at the ready or jump five feet into the air. She didn't do either. She just kept walking like she hadn't even heard him.

Mercury scrunched an eyebrow. On one hand, he was impressed she managed to avoid reacting. On the other, she could at least acknowledge him. "Are you just going to ignore me?" Apparently, the answer was 'yes' because she kept walking without a response.

It irritated him. "What's with you?" He grabbed her shoulder and forcibly turned her in his direction—he didn't like what he saw. The young girl's eyes were empty as they looked out into nothingness. There were black bags under them like she hadn't slept in a while, and her lips were turned down in a weary frown that looked horribly out of place on her normally vibrant face.

A thousand thoughts were running through Mercury's mind. He didn't see any cuts or bruises on her, so she hadn't lost a fight or been tortured in any way. Was she sick? If that was the cause, then they might be in trouble. High-quality medicine was a rarity in these villages. He had a small cache of medical supplies in his inn room, but those were mostly for recovering from battles, not disease.

He was stopped from thinking about the situation any longer as Ruby seemed to finally take in what was in front of her. "Mercury?" she whispered.

"Yeah, who else would it be?" He replied, then without warning, Ruby moved forward and kind of just bumped her head against his chest. "Hey, what are you doing?" He felt something wet against his shirt. _Was she crying?_

"Can I talk to you?" The little rose asked through the fabric of his clothes. "I don't have anyone else." It almost sounded like she was begging.

If Mercury had been caught off guard before, now he really didn't know what to do. His arms were slack at his sides, and even though there was no one around to gawk at them, he still felt uncomfortable in this position. "Sure," he said with uncertainty, "let's find somewhere to sit."

Cliff's Edge wasn't luxurious enough to have public benches, so they had to make do with a spot on the side of the road. Mercury spread his legs out and leaned backward while Ruby clutched her legs to her stomach looking out from on top of them like an animal afraid to venture from its burrow.

"What did you want to talk about?" Mercury asked.

Ruby didn't answer. Instead, she responded with a question of her own. "Have you ever killed someone?"

"Didn't you already decide that I'm to blame for all the deaths at Beacon?"

"No, I mean yes, but what I'm saying is, have you ever like really killed someone?"

"You mean murder?" Apparently, that was the wrong word to use because the second he said it, Ruby flinched and curled even deeper into her self-made ball.

"Have you?"

Mercury didn't even need to think about it. "Of course, I have." There was no reason to lie to her. All jokes aside, she knew what kind of person he really was.

"How do you do it?"

He smirked. _A well-placed kick to a vital point ought to be enough_. That's what he wanted to say, but he wasn't stupid. He knew what she did if she was asking these questions. Serious answers were probably for the best. "You get used to it just like you get used to killing grimm."

Ruby's face scrunched like she was going to be sick. "Then what about the first time? What was that like?"

His first time? That was something he hadn't thought about in a long time. The girl couldn't have been older than ten. She wasn't part of an underground crime syndicate or some secret psychopath. She was just the daughter of a man that had happened to swipe a very lucrative business contact from right under the nose of a very spiteful individual.

In other words, she was the perfect target to start desensitizing someone to the action.

"_Alright boy, you're going to dispose of the little princess. I'm going to break her bones one-by-one until you do, so don't waste any time."_

"It was rough."

"But how did you handle it afterward?"

What she really wanted to ask was how she could stop the ache in her chest and replays in her head. The truth was that you cry about it for a bit, but then your father takes you out to kill and kill and then kill some more until eventually, you stop crying about it. You realize that everyone is going to die eventually, so what does it matter if you cut some lives a little short. But, that probably wasn't the answer she wanted to hear.

"Find something to take your mind off it." He came up with instead.

"Like what? How could I ever stop thinking about this?" Her eyes drifted to the rowdiest place in town: the bar.

The pipsqueak drinking? He couldn't even imagine. The closest she had probably ever come to nursing a drink was the one she threw in his face. In fact, that had probably been the only time alcohol had ever touched his lips. If that had been anyone else, he probably would have broken every one of their fingers. She was lucky that she was cute.

"I wouldn't recommend finding your relief in there," Mercury mentioned.

"I can drink if I want," Ruby said definitely. "I became an adult the second I enrolled at Beacon."

"Adults don't drink. It's children who can't handle the world around them that do."

Ruby stiffened, and then slowly turned her eyes away looking a little ashamed for being tempted in the first place.

"You know it was always my dream to be a hero," she said after a few minutes of complete silence.

"I think anyone who's spent more than five seconds around you knows that."

That got a sad, little smile out of her. "But I didn't want to be just any hero. I wanted to be just like the heroes in my fairy tales. I wanted to be the hero that kids dreamed about becoming the same way I did. The heroes who saved everyone and always got the happy ending. When I started my career as a Huntress, I really thought I had become that type of hero, but looking back, I wasn't even close. I might have fought the bad guys, but I don't think I've ever saved a single person. I failed to stop the breach, I failed to save Penny, I failed to save Pyrrha, I failed to save Roman, I failed to save Beacon, and I failed to save the trader who specifically hired me to protect him. Maybe I should just give up being a Huntress and head back home." The tears were flowing fast and free now.

"It will be okay," Mercury said.

"Will it really?"

This was the moment to say something—assure her that it would get better—but it was also the moment Mercury completely blanked because he didn't know if it really would get better. He had moved on by learning to devalue life, but for a girl, that treasured life above all else, would there ever be a time where she could look back and not regret taking one?

The lack of response must have been enough for her to reach her own conclusion. "That's what I thought. Thanks for trying though."

* * *

It was the next day, and Ruby was still shuffling around the dirt roads. There hadn't even been a chance to have nightmares last night because she never managed to fall asleep. She had just stared at the ceiling of her rented room taking account of every little crack and blemish. She was exhausted both physically and mentally, but she still got out of bed and headed outside the moment the sun was up. She had really considered just holding up in her room for the entire day, but she knew she'd only make herself more miserable by doing that.

She didn't know what to do. She thought she had remade herself after the fall of Beacon, but look where she was now. Right back to being miserable and alone. Nothing had changed, not a single thing. She was still the foolish young girl chasing a dream she wasn't capable of achieving. She didn't deserve to be a Huntress.

"Wow, it's you!" A young boy ran towards her. His baggy clothes stretched out behind him and the baseball cap he was wearing nearly flew off. He barely avoided crashing into her as he skidded to a stop and smiled at her, showing off his two missing teeth.

Normally, Ruby loved children, but she just wasn't in the mood. Still, she tried her best to sound normal. "Sorry, I think you're mistaken."

"No I'm not," the boy said with absolute assurance.

"I really think you are."

The boy looked annoyed. "You're Ruby Rose, right?"

Ruby's eyes widened. "Um, yeah, but how do you know my name?"

The boy lit up immediately. I watch you at the Vytal Festival. It was awesome. You were like _bang_ and then like _wham _then they were like _ahhhhh_! You're amazing."

Ruby knew she was blushing. "I'm not that cool, and I was only in the first round."

"And it was the best one!" He dug around in his oversized pocket until he pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper and a pen. "Can I have your autograph?"

She was taken back. Someone wanted her autograph? But, she wasn't even a true Huntress. Her mind was racing and she probably looked like an idiot just standing there, yet the kid persistently pushed the paper into her face. How could she deny a fan.

"Sure." She took the paper and smiled; she was surprised to find it was a genuine one.

"Awesome," he cheered. "Hey! what are you doing all the way out here anyway? Did you come to fight the monsters?"

"Yeah, I guess I did." She handed the boy the paper with her signature.

"Awesome. When I grow up I'm going to be just as strong and cool as you. Later." He ran away just as quickly as he had shown up.

Ruby was left alone to watch the dust trail. That had been a strange experience, but for some reason, she felt a little lighter. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough for her to feel the sunshine and smell the breeze.

She might not be the perfect storybook hero. She might have made mistakes. She might have failed, but as long as there was someone who believed in her, she couldn't give up. Maybe it wouldn't be today, and maybe it wouldn't be tomorrow, but maybe one day she could be the hero she wanted to be.

She just had to keep moving forward no matter what she faced along the way.

* * *

Down the road and behind a building the boy in a baseball cap waved a piece of paper in the air. "I did what you told me to. Now give me my money."

Mercury leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "How did she react?"

"I don't know. She looked stupid. Just give me the money. I told her everything you wanted me to."

Mercury sighed and threw 20 lien the kid's way. The kid dropped the piece of paper onto the dirt road without a second thought and caught the lien card. "You're such a chump." The kid stuck his tongue out and ran off.

Mercury didn't care. He just bent over and picked up the paper the kid had dropped. It said, "to my biggest and first fan, Ruby Rose." There was even a little doodle of a rose next to her name.

Mercury grinned. The kid had done well.

This was how things should be. Ruby didn't need the comfort of an assassin, nor was he capable of giving it. She just needed a reminder about why she did what she did. A confirming pat on the shoulder that let her know that she was on the right track.

She'd be okay, but in the meantime, he believed he would be keeping this little autograph. A little reward for all his hard work.


	5. Chapter 5

** Beta**: ShadowMeister234

It was a miserably hot day. The sun beat down like a drum. Ruby's skin was sticky with sweat and her clothes clung to her uncomfortably. Her body felt about three times as heavy as normal and hardly a second went by when her water canteen wasn't pressed to her lips.

It wasn't fair. It was supposed to be the middle of fall, so why was it so hot? Had she been going the wrong way this entire time and ended up in Vacuo? If that was the case then she needed to turn around this second. Sadly, a brief look at the devil sun told her she was still traveling east. The only thing that would save her now was a sudden ice storm or the fresh breeze of an air conditioner. She'd never take those miracle machines for granted ever again.

A Beowolf crossed in front of her and Ruby groaned not because of the Beowolf itself but because of the effort it would take to transform her scythe, raise it up, swing it down, bisect the Grimm, and transform it back into its carrying form. She could feel the water draining from her skin just thinking about it.

"How about you just go on your way Mr. Beowolf. You get to keep on living if you do and I get to avoid using the little energy I have left."

The Beowolf did not accept her kind offer, and Ruby was forced to go through the motions. Once the Beowolf was defeated, she pressed her canteen to her lips for a well-deserved victory drink. She was met with nothing but empty air.

_That's strange there must have been some kind of mistake._

Ruby brought the canteen down, shook it around a little bit, and raised it back up to her lips.

Nothing.

The seconds ticked by and no water graced her throat. Her canteen truly was empty. If she had any moisture left to give, her eyes would have been filled with tears. This couldn't be happening. Where had it all gone? She refused to believe she had drunken it all so quickly. It must have been a Grimm. A new type of Grimm had snuck passed her traps while she had been asleep and taken her water. That was the only explanation.

Proud of her stellar deduction, Ruby moved forward with her head held high. Until she realized that no matter what the cause was, she was still out of water. The heat around her only seemed to grow hotter as if the world was taunting her.

She wasn't going to survive like this. She had made it through dust robberies, terrorist attacks and the fall of Beacon all just to be done in by the sun. She needed to put an end to this misery, so she did the only thing she could think of. She fell to her knees and prayed.

She had never done anything like this before, so she wasn't really sure how it was supposed to work. "Dear, whoever is listening. My name is Ruby Rose and I would be very thankful if you could give me some water or maybe put an end to this heatwave. Doing both would be appreciated but I don't want to be greedy."

She waited in silence for a response from whatever deity she had summoned. Three minutes passed and nothing changed. Maybe she had done something wrong—or maybe her prayer had already been answered.

Excitedly, she picked up her canteen ready to find it filled with the beautiful clear liquid. Unfortunately, it was as empty as ever. What was the point in praying if you couldn't even get a stupid refill by doing it? Restaurant workers had already figured it out, so why couldn't a god get the hang of it.

In anger, she threw her canteen on the ground. It didn't make her feel any better, and she just ended up having to pick it back up and dust it off. While she was cleaning it, she heard a noise. Actually, she had probably been hearing it for a while, she just hadn't been paying attention. However, now that she was focusing on it, the sound was clear as day. It was the sound of flowing water.

Energy restored, Ruby rushed off towards the wonderful sound, and sure enough, it wasn't long before she laid eyes on a beautiful blue stream. Without another thought, she dunked her face into the water and started taking gulps so fast that she started choking. She pounded her chest and cough so hard that she thought she might throw up a lung. Still, she thanked whatever being had answered her prayer. She would never forget this moment as long as she lived.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone so excited to nearly drown themselves."

Ruby's back snapped up straight as her eyes drifted over to the familiar voice. It couldn't be, but it was. Not even ten feet to her right was a shirtless Mercury sitting in the stream with his back up against the bank.

"How does this keep happening?" she whined.

"Must be fate."

"Then fate must hate me."

"Ah, don't be like that. You know you're happy to see me."

Surprisingly, she couldn't deny that. Despite everything he had done to Beacon and her old team, she couldn't bring herself to muster any ill will. Seeing him now was like getting to visit an old friend and in some strange way maybe he was one.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Mercury ran his fingers along the water's surface. "This is probably going to be the last nice day we're going to have for a while, so I took the chance to cleanse myself before the water gets too cold."

It probably should have been obvious, but Ruby only now realized what kind of position Mercury was in. "Wait, are you naked right now!"

Mercury looked her dead in the eyes with his signature grin and gestured to the bundle of clothes behind him.

The color of Ruby's face changed to match her name as she quickly looked the other way. Luckily, the water was dark enough that she hadn't been able to see anything she shouldn't have, but still, how can he act like everything is okay. "Can you please put on some clothes."

"No way, I'm not getting out early just because you barged in unannounced."

"But, aren't you embarrassed!"

"Nope, are you? Don't tell me you've never seen a guy's body before."

"Of course I haven't," Ruby sputtered.

"Then, I'm honored to be your first. You know, you can join me if you would like."

"Gak…grh…gah"

"Those aren't words." Mercury pointed out.

"You're a pervert."

"Says the girl who just guzzled down my bathwater like there was no tomorrow."

Ruby's mouth moved in strange ways and her fingers itched towards Crescent Rose. She took back every nice thing she ever thought about him. He was a horrible person who had committed irredeemable crimes.

Still, that water did look refreshing, and it was really hot out, and her body was very sweaty. Running water was a luxury that had long been forgotten only available in the settlements nearest Vale. How long had it been since she had a proper bath? A week? Two! Did she stink? Could Mercury tell?

Subtly, she sniffed her shoulder and came away with a grimy odor. Yeah, she definitely needed a bath. "I think I'll wait until you're done," she told him.

"Then you're going to be waiting for a long time. I like to soak." Mercury slid down even lower in the stream to prove his point. "The offer is still open."

Ruby bit the inside of her cheek. Her options were a) ignore the idiot entirely and continue on her way with sticky clothes and smelling like death b) travel farther up the stream to bathe, or c) take him up on his offer.

The first option was unacceptable, and the second risked him sneaking up on her anyway. Her cheeks heated up again as she realized what she was about to do, but better to know where he was then being paranoid about where he might be. "You have to promise that you won't look."

"I would never dream of such my lady."

"Don't test me," Ruby said as threateningly as she could through her burning face. "You take this seriously or I'm going to cut you down the middle."

Mercury rolled his eyes but sat up a little straight. "I promise that I won't try and sneak a peek."

She scanned his face for any hints of deceit. She didn't find anything, but Mercury was probably good enough to hide it. "Alright, turn the other way and close your eyes."

He did as he was told.

"Put your palms over them too," she said.

He sighed but did that as well.

Ruby stood there for a bit and even rustled her clothes to see if Mercury tried to peek through his blinder, but as far as she could tell, he didn't try to peep.

Still, incredibly nervous and not quite believing she was doing this, Ruby dumped her stuff on the ground and started to disrobe. She used her cloak as a makeshift curtain as she took off her skirt, then her shirt, and then her underwear. All the while, she kept a sharp lookout on Mercury or anything else that might threaten her modesty. She noticed something metallic buried under Mercury's clothes and all his other stuff, but she didn't see any odd behavior from Mercury himself. Maybe he could be a gentleman after all, but then she remembered a true gentleman would never put a fair maiden, such as herself, in such a position to begin with.

After she stripped off her last piece of clothing, she pushed her underwear beneath everything else, so Mercury wouldn't see them when he opened his eyes, and dipped her toes into the stream. It definitely wasn't warm, but it wasn't so cold that it would be uncomfortable. Slowly she lowered herself all the way in and released a sigh of relief as the water washed over her.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Mercury asked.

"Not yet," Ruby yelled. She dipped even lower into the water so that only her neck and head were above it, and there was no chance her breasts would surface. Finally, she did one last check to make absolutely certain that Mercury couldn't see her body through the water. "Fine, you can open them now—but don't look over here."

"Why not?" Mercury complained.

"Just don't."

"That's pretty unfair. Especially since I can feel your fiery eyes taking in every inch of my bare body."

"Don't say it like that. I'm just watching you to make sure you don't try anything."

"Haven't I already proven myself to be trustworthy."

"You spent your entire career at Beacon lying to us. A few seconds of not being an active perv doesn't make you trustworthy."

"That's cruel. I thought you hero types were all about giving second chances." Mercury groaned in a way that was far too dramatic to be real. "You can't stop me from turning around. It's rude to talk to someone without looking at them."

"Since when have you ever cared about rudeness?"

"It's a new thing I'm trying out."

"Fine," Ruby relented, "but keep your eyes above the waterline."

Mercury turned forward, not exactly facing her but now able to see her. "Just what kind of deformed monster are you under those clothes that makes you so insecure."

"I'm not insecure and I'm not deformed!" She almost—_almost _stood up to gain the height advantage and further argue her point, but she stopped herself. _Don't get excited, and don't get flustered, that's exactly what he wants._

Unfortunately, as always, Mercury was eagled-eyed when it came to noticing her embarrassing moments. "Could have fooled me with how quickly you just tried to hide it."

"I thought you were trying to be less rude."

"Found out it just wasn't working out for me." He shook his head like he was actually disappointed in himself. "But in all seriousness, I'm just messing with you. I know from when you got caught in my snare that at the very least, your bottom half is very appealing.

Ruby found herself having to take a deep breath. Crescent Rose was right behind her. She and Mercury were apart, but they weren't so far apart that her precious blade wouldn't reach him, a calculated move on her part. All it would take was one good swing and the world could be rid of Mercury Black forever.

"I can tell from that frankly impressive killer intent you're emitting that I may have pushed the joke too far, so I'm going to shut up now."

"Do you even know how?" Ruby said in a voice that she herself didn't recognize, but that Tai would know as the tone his second wife would use during the very few times he had really pissed her off.

Mercury, who honestly looked a little frightened, took his fingers and ran them across his lips like it was a zipper.

Ruby nodded, satisfied with his decision. She could finally start to enjoy her bath. Even with a naked Mercury beside her, she found she could easily relax. The water flowing across her skin was a pleasant feeling. If she concentrated really hard, she could almost imagine herself back at home in her bathtub. The only problem she had was how quiet it was. Normally that was hardly an issue but knowing that Mercury was right there, it was kind of awkward.

She glanced at him only to see that he had reclined deeper into the stream and even closed his eyes. If she didn't know any better, she might have thought he had fallen asleep. Well, if he wasn't going to bother her anymore, wasn't that a win for her?

Ruby tried for the next couple of minutes to go back to enjoying her bath, but the silence was starting to make her uncomfortable. She was no stranger to being a wallflower, but when you were with someone one-on-one, you were supposed to talk to them. That's just how it was.

"So what have you been up to?" Ruby asked.

Mercury cracked one eye open. "Traveling around. Killing Grimm."

"Nice, me too," she said while Mercury raised his eyebrow in confusion.

Ruby quickly tried to recover. "I'm just saying we haven't seen each other in a while, and I was wondering if anything exciting happened to you." _Just stop! You're only making it worse, _her brain pleaded.

"Nothing that I can think of." He wasn't even cracking jokes at her expense, so she knew it was bad.

She had to do something before the awkwardness devoured her. "Let's play a game," she blurted out, then immediately wanted to find the nearest rock to bash her head into.

Mercury's head snapped in her direction so fast that she heard something crack. "A game? Like right now?"

She couldn't back down. "Yes."

Mercury sat up straighter now completely on board with the conversation, so at least that part had been successful. "What kind of game were you thinking? Truth or Dare?"

Ruby flailed her arms. "No, nothing like that. I was thinking twenty questions."

"Oh." He lost interest immediately.

"This is a good way to learn more about each other." Despite their constant run-ins, she didn't know that much about him.

"I guess." He practically sounded depressed.

"I least pretend like you care. I'll go first."

"Fine, fire away," he droned.

Ruby splashed water in his face. He tried blocking it with his arm but it wasn't very successful. "Are you ready to take this seriously?"

Mercury shook the excess water out of his hair like a wet dog. "Of course, my lady."

She supposed that was the best she was going to get from him. "How'd you meet Cinder and Emerald?"

"You sure this isn't just a way for you to gather information?"

"Just answer the question. Remember you have to be honest."

Mercury shook his head but at least he seemed a little amused. "They came to my house with an offer, and by the time they found me, I wasn't in a position where I could refuse her."

"Good, now you get to ask your question."

"How does it feel being naked right next to me?"

"Uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as I thought."

"Not going to give me any more satisfaction than that?"

"Nope, I know your game, and that was two questions, so now I also get to double-dip."

Mercury rolled his eyes. "Go ahead."

"If you could have walked away from Cinder's offer, would you have?"

Mercury thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. I was never totally on board with Cinder's plan, mainly because there was nothing in it for me, but I don't regret the time I spent helping her out."

She had been hoping for a more compassionate answer, but that was probably asking for too much. "What do you like to do besides plotting the downfall of Beacon?"

"Playing video games, reading comics, sleeping, and making Cinder puppets."

"Wait, what was that last one?"

"Hey, it's my turn now," Mercury reprimanded. "So, why do you want to become a hero?"

"What?"

"Last time we talked, back at Cliff's Edge, you talked a lot about wanting to be a hero. You were way more invested than even most Huntsmen, so why do you want to be one so badly?"

That's right she had said a lot to him back then. It wasn't that she had forgotten about it. That time was just a little fuzzier given what she had been going through. She still hadn't completely moved past what she did, but she had learned to live with it and move forward. "It's because of my mom," Ruby admitted. "She was a Huntress and when I was very young, she went on a mission and never came back. I don't remember that much of her but from what I do remember and from what dad and Yang told me, I know she was an amazing person who wouldn't let anyone suffer. I've always wanted to be a hero just like her."

"I see." Mercury didn't want to mention it was probably that need to save everyone that ended up doing her in.

"What about your family?" Ruby questioned.

Mercury blistered. Even if she didn't know it, Ruby had just touched on his worst topic. "Both my parents are dead."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She looked down at her own reflection. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's not your turn." He was trying not to grind his teeth together and his fingers were already digging into the ground by his side.

"But, it might make you feel better."

The sections where the human part of his legs ceased to exist were starting to ache. "It won't."

She wasn't taking the hint. "You won't know unless you try."

He snapped. "Fine! you want to know about my family. My father was an assassin along with being an abusive drunk who would beat me half to death every night in the name of training. The one time my pathetic excuse for a mother tried standing up for me instead of sucking the bastard's dick, he shot her and watched her bleed out, and then he made me bury the body!"

Mercury was tense. He had gotten right into Ruby's face as he yelled. At some point, he had even raised his fist above his head like he was going to hit her. She was scared. The same kind of scared he had probably been every time his father got home.

He took several deep breaths and backed away. "Sorry, you didn't deserve that." He didn't apologize often, but he needed to for that. Mercury wasn't a good person, but he wasn't an abuser. When he killed it was a simple and professional affair. The fight leading up to that point might not always be, but the actual kill was always swift and without fanfare.

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn't have pushed." Ruby rubbed her shoulder and was having a hard time looking at him. Mercury always seemed so in control of himself like everything was just a game to him. She had always disliked that arrogant attitude even back when she thought he was a normal student, but it was also the type of confidence she wished she had. Yelling and raising his fist in rage wasn't like him at all. It didn't sit well with her because while he had looked angry, he had also looked miserable.

"What are you doing?" Mercury asked, surprised.

"I'm hugging you." Ruby had scooted over and wrapped her arms around his chest.

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to, and it's my way of saying sorry."

If Mercury peeked, he could have seen her bareback and followed it down to the top of her butt. If he concentrated, he could have felt her breasts being pressed against his side. He didn't do either. He just sat there and enjoyed the short girl snuggling against him. He wasn't used to such contact, not at all.

"You know, talking about it did make me feel a little better," he admitted. "Felt like I've been holding it in for a long time."

"I'm glad." Ruby released her hold but stayed right next to him. "It's your turn to ask a question."

"I think I'm done with this game. I've been bathing long enough." Mercury reached for his clothes but instead of getting them, he grabbed the metallic object that she had noticed earlier. It was a robotic leg.

"Is that…" Ruby couldn't bring herself to finish.

Mercury just grinned and pushed himself out of the water and onto the shore with his hands. Ruby quickly covered her eyes to avoid seeing anything private, but it didn't stop her from catching the thing that might have been even more private. Not just one but both of his legs were missing just above the knee. Everything that happened with Yang and the Vytal Festival suddenly made sense.

"You're safe to look now," Mercury said.

Ruby only narrowly opened her fingers just to make sure, and while he wasn't dressed, he had draped his shirt over his pelvis and thighs. "What happened?" Ruby asked as she watched him connect his left leg.

"My father happened."

Ruby gasped. "Your dad cut your legs off?" She knew he had just told him that his father was abusive, but this—this was monstrous.

"No, he paid someone to surgically remove them. At least, he was sober enough to realize that taking the nearest saw and hacking at them would only kill me."

"But why?" Ruby cried.

"Because it would make me stronger. I'm surprised you don't know this since your sister fights with her fists, but people who fight with hand-to-hand combat damage their own aura every time they land a hit. If so we don't break our own bones with enhanced strength. The aura you actually lose because of that is negligible, but it was enough for my father to decide I'd be better off without such a weakness. With artificial legs, I'm basically using a weapon and thus no aura cost from kicking. There are some other minor advantages as well."

Ruby thought she might vomit. What kind of father—no, what kind of person would do something like that. "If he really cared so much, there must have been simpler ways."

"The bastard didn't care about anything but the bottle. Chopping off my legs was the first solution that came to his mind, and it was good enough for him."

"You said he was dead?"

"He is."

"You killed him didn't you?"

"I sure did," he said it like it had been easy. He had revealed more to Ruby today than he thought he would ever reveal to anyone, but she would never know just how long he dreamed of killing that man. Even now he doubted he could beat Marcus in a fair fight, so he had done what any good assassin did: he waited. It had taken years but the day had finally come when the bastard had let his guard down. It was soon after Mercury's surgery when Marcus thought his son too disabled to pose a threat. He had hit the booze especially hard that night, and that was the moment Mercury struck. Marcus still put up a hell of a fight even in his drunken stupor, but it was a fight Mercury won.

The memory brought a smile to his face. It was something Ruby saw and recognized for what it was, but she didn't push him on it. The thought of killing another person still made her stomach clench, but she didn't blame Mercury for his actions. In fact, she might have agreed with them and that scared her. She wanted to move back to safer topics.

"Why did you take your legs off if they're your weapons?" She asked. If there was one thing she was comfortable talking about it was weapons. The more unique the better, and Mercury's were definitely unique despite their uncomfortable origin. "Are they not waterproof?"

"They're waterproof," he replied as he finished connecting his other leg, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to drown them every chance I get. It's also more comfortable bathing without them on."

"But what if a Grimm had shown up?"

"I have other ways of dealing with Grimm."

"A semblance," Ruby guessed.

The way Mercury's face scrunched up let her know she had hit on something she wasn't supposed to again. "You better close your eyes," Mercury said. "I'm going to change my clothes and then I'm heading out."

"Wait," Ruby yelled. She didn't quite know why, but she couldn't just let him leave like this. "Where are you heading to?"

"A little up north there's an SDC mining camp. I heard from the last town I was in that they were having some Grimm trouble, so I'm going to see what's up."

"Really, that's where I was going too." It wasn't but destinations could always be changed. "How about we walk there together." She hit him with the best puppy dog eyes she had.

Mercury seemed remarkably unaffected as he contemplated the idea. "If you're out of that stream in the next ten minutes, I guess you can come along."

"I'll be ready in five," Ruby agreed, but quickly added a caveat. "As long as you promise not to look."

Mercury grinned just as he always had. The Mercury she knew was back. "Alright, I promise."


	6. Chapter 6

** Beta**: ShadowMeister234

It wasn't fair that the weather could be so unbearably hot in the morning, then switch to bitterly cold as the sun set. Ruby had to wrap herself in her cloak to keep from shivering. Frustratingly, Mercury was walking beside her like nothing was wrong.

"How are you not cold!" Ruby finally blurted out.

His eyes drifted over to her with some confusion. "It's not that cold."

"It is."

"Maybe you're only cold because you decided to hike around Sanus wearing a skirt and some razor-thin stockings instead of pants and a jacket like me. Seriously, what were you thinking?"

"First of all, it's a combat skirt," she defended. "Second of all, this outfit was fine just a few hours ago when it was hot, and third of all, I like to have a little more variety in my look than just a grey and black jumpsuit."

Mercury rolled his eyes. "Then enjoy freezing for your fashion statement."

"You know a gentleman would lend a girl his jacket in times like these."

"Yeah, a gentleman would." Mercury very distinctly did not offer her his jacket.

Ruby sighed and was left to salvage any warmth from her body that she could. She still wasn't sure why she had even bothered to travel along with him. At first, it was because she didn't want to separate while he was still upset with her, but he had recovered from their bath time talk remarkably quickly and was back to his annoying self. He couldn't go a single conversation without dropping some snide remark, but it was still much more preferable than him being angry and yelling.

She tried not to think about it too much, but she couldn't stop her eyes from wandering down to Mercury's legs where the mechanical sections were hidden by his pants. If Ruby hadn't seen them for herself, she would have never guessed he was walking on fake feet. Did he have to practice walking normally, or did it just come naturally? Could he "feel" with them or did he have to constantly keep track of where his feet were?

The more she thought about it the more she thought about her sister and her missing arm. Would Yang be getting a prosthetic arm? If she wanted to continue her career as a Huntress, she'd probably have to, but Ruby couldn't even say for sure if Yang wanted to be a Huntress anymore.

She wondered how Yang was doing. She missed her.

"Eyes up," Mercury said, startling Ruby a bit. "We're here."

The SDC mining camp emerged in the distance. It was an ugly thing with blocky one-story structures built at the base of a hill. As they got closer, they saw how all the buildings looked to be heavily rushed in their construction with pieces of wood sticking out at odd angles and additional supports that seemed to have been added after the fact when the builder realized there was a problem. A lot of frontier villages had that haphazard feel to their construction, but this place took it a step further into near disrepair.

The only thing that looked remotely stable was the wall surrounding the camp and even that was only a metal fence with some raised platforms behind it to act as watchtowers. It was the bare minimum of a defense and would only work to hold off a handful of Grimm. Any more than that and the fence would only serve as an inconvenience.

A spotlight shone on them as they approached the gate. "What business do you have here?" A man's voice bellowed.

"We're Huntsmen," Mercury replied, not bothered by the bright light in his eyes. "We hear you've been having a Grimm problem."

"Huntsmen. Seriously. Oh, thank the Brothers you're here. Jett, open the gate and get our guests to Alabaster!"

The gate slid open with a grating screech as metal rubbed against metal. The person who greeted them on the other side was a muscular faunus with a raccoon tail wearing a plain brown shirt that looked about two sizes too small for him.

"You two really Huntsmen?" he said in a tone that was much gentler than what Ruby would have expected from a man with such a gruff appearance.

Before Ruby could explain that they were more Huntsmen-in-training than actual Huntsmen, Mercury cut in with a quick, "sure are."

The faunus didn't ask anything else. "Please, follow me." He led the duo through the camp. Even though it was late, there were still plenty of people, the vast majority of them faunus, out and about doing chores, eating some kind of soup from a wooden bowl, or just chatting with each other. That ended the second they walked past them.

All eyes were on the two newcomers being led around. It wasn't hard to pick them out as being Huntsmen. The people watch them pass in amazement. It was like nothing Ruby had ever experienced before and it made her a bit uncomfortable. She tried to smile and show them she was just a normal person, but her actions didn't change their attitudes in the slightest.

The raccoon faunus brought them to one of the very few non wooden structures in the entire camp. It was much better put together than any of the others and may have been what passed for luxury out here, but would have been barely livable back in Vale.

The interior was only a little better with rugs and pictures everywhere to try and cover the deterioration. They were taken to an office where a pudgy man sat at his desk eating a chocolate bar. "Jett, who are these people?" the man asked when they entered.

"They're Huntsmen."

"Huntsmen! But I thought…damn it." The man shoved the rest of his chocolate bar down his throat before rising from his desk. The white uniform with the SDC snowflake stamped proudly on the shoulder flexed as he did. "My name is Alabaster and I'm currently in charge of this burning trash heap." He held out his chocolate stained hand for Ruby to shake, and she was just too polite to turn it down.

Didn't stop it from feeling disgusting though.

Mercury had a little more backbone and didn't give the attempted handshake a second look. Alabaster was clearly not pleased with the slight and returned to his desk much grumpier than before if that was even possible. "Why are you here?"

Ruby didn't miss the way Alabaster only seemed to be talking to Mercury like it was already decided that he was the one in charge. Ruby had gotten used to having to explain her age to anyone she wanted a job from, but being so completely ignored irritated her.

"I think that would be obvious," Mercury said. "We heard you have a Grimm problem."

"Yes, I suppose we do." Alabaster seemed remarkably unconcerned about it. "About two weeks ago some Grimm managed to tunnel their way into the mine. They haven't attempted to come up to the camp, so that's a good thing, but obviously, I can't send any workers down there."

"So you need us to clear them out," Ruby said, injecting herself into the conversation.

The blob behind the desk looked at Mercury like he expected him to say something or even discipline her like she was some bratty child that had spoken out of line. When it was clear Mercury wasn't going to do either, Alabaster continued.

"That would be ideal, but I fear this isn't a job you'll be willing to take."

"Don't think we have the skills to handle it?" Mercury seemed almost amused at the thought.

"It's not that," Alabaster clarified. "It's just I'm unable to pay you."

Mercury's smirk dropped and his eyes narrowed. "You're telling me the most profitable company on Remnant can't fit the bill for a simple Grimm extermination?"

Alabaster grew a smugness of his own. "You have to understand that while the SDC as a whole has vast assets, we are but a small part with a fixed budget. A budget that is currently at its breaking point since the mine has all but been shut down these last two weeks. The sad truth is this camp has no money to spare."

"Then it appears we have nothing left to discuss," Mercury stated.

"It appears so. I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing."

"Wait!" Ruby interrupted.

"Wait for what, little girl? The business has already been concluded."

Ruby had met a lot of rude people during her time in the frontier, but this one took the cake. He'd probably be a whole lot nicer if he knew that Weiss Schnee had been her partner back at Beacon, but arguing with him wouldn't help anything. Instead, she grabbed Mercury by the arm. "Can we go somewhere to discuss this before we make a decision?"

Alabaster rolled his eyes. "If you wish. Jett take our guests to the meeting room."

The meeting room was nothing more than a single wooden table with six chairs surrounding it. Jett told them he would wait outside until they reached a decision, and that they could take all the time they needed. He had been very polite about it which was more than she could say about Alabaster or even Mercury.

He wasted no time grabbing a chair and putting his feet up on the table. "Why are we doing this?"

"Because you were going to walk out!"

"Of course, I was. He said he wasn't going to pay us."

"There are more important things than money," Ruby snarled. "These people need us." Mercury opened his mouth, but Ruby cut him off. "And I know that we have to look out for ourselves and not do jobs for free, but if they literally don't have the money, we can't just abandon them."

"Glad to see you took my advice to heart," Mercury smirked, "but you still have a lot of learning to do. I might have agreed with what you're saying if he really didn't have the money to pay us, but that's a lie."

Ruby shook her head. "How do you know that?"

"I know because it's true. Didn't you notice anything strange about that conversation?"

"Only that he was obnoxious," Ruby huffed.

"Yes, but I'm talking about something more specific."

Ruby replayed the conversation in her head. "I don't think he said anything strange."

Mercury pulled his feet off the table and leaned forward in his chair. "It's not what he said. It's what he didn't say. Think about all the other times you've taken on a job. How did those conversations go?"

"Can't you just tell me?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

Ruby groaned and took her own seat as she thought about it—and she really did think about it. What was different between their conversation with Alabaster and all the ones she had before? It only took a couple minutes for it to hit her. "He didn't negotiate,"she gasped. Even the poorest of farmers, who had no hope of paying her a fair price still haggled by offering her food, or sometimes animals. Alabaster hadn't even tried.

"Exactly," Mercury snapped his fingers. "Even if he couldn't pay us in lien, which he definitely could, this is a mine for the most valuable resource on Remnant. He could have just paid us in dust after we cleared the place. He didn't even bother asking for our names. That guy was ready to send us packing before we even came through the door."

"Why would he do that?"

"That I don't know, but I have a feeling our little eavesdropper will be able to tell us." Mercury gazed at the door and for a while it seemed like nothing would happen, but eventually the door opened and the raccoon faunus, Jett, walked in looking a bit embarrassed.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"Didn't hear the footsteps of you walking away and your shadow was blocking some of the light beneath the door."

"I see."

"So, you going to tell us what's really going on around here?"

The faunus drooped his shoulders and suddenly the fatigue lines around his face stood out more than any of his impressive muscles. "It's mostly as you say. Alabaster doesn't want you here. He doesn't want any Huntsmen here."

"But why?" Ruby asked.

Jett sighed. "Alabaster hates this place. I don't know the full story, but he's ranted and complained about it enough that I can put the pieces together. He's an Atlas elite who through his family got himself employed at the SDC main office, but either because of a mistake or just bad work ethic. He got himself exiled out here in the ass-end of nowhere. Say what you want about Jacques, and there's a lot to say about the bastard, but he doesn't tolerate inefficiency from anyone. That brings us to now. Alabaster wants to go back to Atlas but Jacques won't let him, and with the way contracts are written he'll forgo all the pay he's made until now if he quits early. Never let it be said that Jacques only screws over faunus."

Jett forced a chuckle. "Then the Grimm came and Alabaster saw his opportunity. If the camp stays inoperable for long enough, it will be closed permanently, or at least for a long time. If that happens, Alabaster gets to go back to Atlas while claiming everything was just bad luck and not his fault."

"Gets to blame it all on the Vale Huntsmen who didn't help," Mercury said. "A convenient excuse when he's the one sending them away."

"Yes, he hasn't even put out an official request although I'm sure that will just be used as more evidence of Vale's incompetence for losing a mission request. The only people who know we even need help are the nearby towns. I had my guys spread the word when they were out for supplies, and since you two are here it must have worked."

"It got us to the front door if that's what you mean." Mercury sounded uncommitted.

Jett paled as he realized what Mercury was hinting at. "Please, you have to help us. This might all be a game to Alabaster, but it's our livelihood. It's not great work but it is work. If the camp closes, we'll all be out of a job and there aren't that many to be had out here.

Mercury picked at his fingernail. "It's certainly an interesting story you told, but it doesn't change the fact that we're not going to get paid."

"Mercury!" Ruby yelled having heard enough. These people needed their help, and she was both angry and saddened that Mercury didn't seem to care. "I'll take on the job even if it means doing it alone."

"Thank you so much." Jett got up to shake her hand in gratitude, then they both turned to look at the assassin.

When faced with two sets of pleading eyes, Mercury didn't really have a choice. "Fine, I'll take the job. It's not like I have anything else to do."

* * *

Jett led them through the camp once more, but this time to the entrance of the dust mine. Alabaster had not seemed pleased that they accepted the job, but there wasn't anything he could do to stop them besides outright admit that he wanted the Grimm to stay where they were.

As they made their second walkthrough, Ruby noticed a few things she hadn't before. Most of the people in this camp were skinny. Not horribly so, but more than what miners and hard labors probably should be. She also saw their amazement for what it truly was: desperation. These people had been holding out hope for Huntsmen they never expected to come, and now that the Huntsmen were here they didn't know what to say.

Helping these people was definitely the right thing to do which made it all the more disheartening the Mercury was walking beside her with his hands shoved in his pockets like he would rather be anywhere else.

They arrived at the mine entrance. Ruby expected it to be dark, but lights hung from wires on the ceiling illuminating the whole area. Jett traveled with them as far as the first room which was mostly just a staging area filled with machines and excavation vehicles. "This is the place," Jett said rather awkwardly. "Is there anything you two will be needing?"

"Do you know what kind of Grimm and how many we'll be dealing with?" Ruby asked.

"I don't have a count for you, but it's more than just a few. I also didn't see them for myself, but the boys said they only had two legs, were about half their size, and had stubby horns coming off their faces.

"Sounds like Creeps." Ruby didn't have a lot of experience with them since they were mostly subterranean Grimm, but for the few she fought at Mt. Glenn and during the breach, they didn't seem too tough. "Okay, we'll let you know when we're done," Ruby said confidently.

"Then I wish you good luck." Jett left. The duo were alone with only the soft buzzing of the lights to keep them company.

"So, what's the plan, boss," Mercury said.

"I'm not your boss," Ruby replied.

"Really? With the way you dragged me along you could have fooled me."

"Were you really just going to leave without helping!" Ruby snapped. "Doesn't it matter that these people are suffering? Shouldn't you of all people be able to sympathize with them? Do you even care!"

Mercury placed his hands on Ruby's shoulders before she launched herself at him. "Relax, I was only ever messing around. I would have helped out even without your intervention."

Ruby lowered herself from her tiptoes. "Is that true?"

"Am I the type of guy that would lie to you?"

Ruby didn't dignify that question with an answer.

Mercury snickered "Alright, point taken. I'm being honest though. I didn't come all the way out here just to turn right back around."

Ruby began to calm down. "So you do understand."

"In a way," he answered cryptically.

Ruby just let it go. She had learned to accept that reasons didn't really matter. As long as Mercury was willing to help, it was fine. Besides even if it was only Creeps, she was glad to have someone by her side.

So, together they headed deeper into the mine.

* * *

Just as Ruby expected the Creeps fell with ease. The biggest risk they faced didn't even come from them. It was accidentally hitting a dust vein and causing it to explode. It was why they were going melee only. Firing bullets was just asking for a cave-in. Something Mercury had explained to her like she was an idiot. She knew how to not blow herself up, thank you very much. Of course, she didn't mention the very first thing she did at Beacon was cause a dust explosion.

They had been at this for a few hours now. Most of that was just walking with minimal combat in between. It would have been much quicker if the Grimm had been Beowolves since they stuck together. All they would have had to do was find the pack and exterminate it, but Creeps didn't travel in groups. That meant the two of them had to search the entire mine just to make sure they didn't miss any. It was tedious.

Having spent the entire day on the road didn't help either. Ruby was growing tired. She tried to stay focused since she knew that even weak Grimm were capable of killing her if she got careless, but with the soft lighting of the dust veins making it seem like she was constantly looking at the starry night sky, it was getting harder and harder.

They exited one of the narrow tunnels into one of the larger rooms where scaffolding extended all the way to the roof. There was a pack of six Creeps close to the center which was the largest group of them they had seen so far, but it only took a few swings of Crescent Rose to slay them all. She couldn't suppress the yawn that came out of her mouth.

"You know, we can head back for the night," Mercury said. "No one says we have to clear this place all in one trip."

"The sooner we finish the sooner the miners can get back to work. I don't want to keep them waiting any longer than they have to. Also, I don't want to give Alabaster any time to figure out a way to stop us from doing this."

"Whatever." Mercury wandered around the room looking for any Grimm tracks. He found something else instead. "Would you look at this." Ruby walked over to see Mercury standing next to a metal minecart that was filled to the brim with dust crystals. "Guess the miners left this behind when they had to evacuate." He kicked a discarded pickaxe along the floor, then grabbed some of the dust and shoved it into his pockets.

"What are you doing," Ruby half shouted.

"What does it look like. I'm taking as much dust as I can hold."

"That's stealing."

"It's not stealing if it's owed to us. Nobody will even miss it. Just think of it as the payment Alabaster is supposed to be giving us, then some extra for being such a dick."

"But—"

"Listen, you're well aware that I'm not a model citizen, so let's not pretend I am. I'm taking this dust and if you're smart, you'll do the same. It's the best of both worlds. The miners still get our help and we don't have to be taken advantage of."

Ruby had to refrain from delivering her it's-still-wrong speech. Mercury wouldn't care, and she could follow his logic. She even agreed with it on a certain level, but it was still technically stealing and that made her uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Mercury continued stuffing his pockets and looking at her like he expected her to do the same. "You need to stop thinking about what's right and what's wrong. You have to think about what _you _need versus what others can afford to lose. When you look at situations like that, this is a pretty clear cut case." He held up a bright red crystal. "You can't tell me you don't want a piece of this."

She did. That dust could keep Crescent Rose filled for months. It would be so easy and the majority of people would probably say it was fair for her to take it, but the majority weren't always right and heroes didn't take the easy route. "It's not ours to take."

Mercury seemed surprised. "You're really going to have a problem taking from the largest company on Remnant? I know you're all about being heroic, but this is ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous. It's the right thing to do. The dust stays here."

Mercury scoffed. "Suit yourself." He continued to stuff dust into his pockets.

"No Mercury, all the dust stays."

He looked up from the dust pile realizing just what she was implying. "Look, it's fine if you want to take the high road, but don't push your outdated morality onto me."

Ruby held firm. "Put the dust back."

Mercury's amused look changed into a half glare as he stood up straight. "And if I don't?"

Ruby readied Crescent Rose letting him know just how serious she was.

Mercury stared at it like it was some strange new creature. "Really? You're willing to fight me over something so stupid. After all the time we've spent together and after everything you know I've done, this is the final straw?"

"We said we'd do this job, and we said that knowing we weren't getting paid. Even if Alabaster isn't playing fair, our promise still means something."

Mercury met her eyes and for a moment it looked like neither of them were going to back down, but then he suddenly gave in. "Alright, you're the boss, so what you say goes." He dumped all the dust he had taken back into the minecart. "Happy now?"

Ruby released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and lowered her weapon. "Very, I knew you could do the right thing."

"Is that what this was about? You're trying to reform me?"

Yes, no, maybe? Ruby wasn't sure what she wanted. She just knew that she didn't want Mercury to blatantly commit a crime in front of her. If she had let him get away with that, she felt that everything she stood for would have crumbled away. "You've been telling me to be more cynical. It only seems fair I should tell you to be more compassionate."

"Compassionate to who? The international megacorporation? I'm sure they could survive without it."

"It's not that it's—you know what never mind." Impossible to explain her reasoning to him when she couldn't even explain it to herself. Why was everything around him so complicated? "Let's just get this job over with."

"Whatever you say, boss."

"Don't call me that. I'm not your boss, I'm your…your partner."

Mercury smirked as he looked down on the little redhead. "Then lead the way, _partner_."

Ruby did lead, but that was mostly to keep Mercury at her back so he wouldn't see the blush spreading across her cheeks.

* * *

Ruby guessed it was probably around midnight, but they had finished exploring every inch of the mine. They had even found the point where the Grimm had originally burrowed in from and sealed it up. There was no guarantee that more wouldn't break their way in sometime in the future, but for now they were as confident as they could be that the mine was clear of grimm.

All that was left to do was make their way back out, and take a well-deserved nap. But like most things, it was never that simple. "What is this?" Ruby questioned as she saw a pile of rocks blocking their way back up. The pile was only about waist high so it could be easily climbed over, but they had come through this tunnel before and there definitely hadn't been this type of blockage. "Did part of the tunnel collapse?"

If her mind had been in full working order, she might have recognized this as basically the same setup that had been used to ambush the caravan on the way to Cliff's Edge. Luckily, Mercury was much more aware of these types of traps and noticed the explosives strapped to the top of the tunnel. Unluckily, he noticed them a bit too late to warn Ruby before she took a step forward to examine the debris.

If it had been a tripwire or a pressure plate, she would have been able to react better. As it was, her leg triggered the laser sensor without any knowledge on her part, so the sudden explosions came as a complete surprise that rooted her in place. The tunnel shook and rocks fell from the ceiling.

"Don't just stand there!" Mercury yelled. Then she felt a force tackle her from the side and sent her tumbling back down into the mineshaft. The ceiling was collapsing in earnest now forcing Ruby to hold her arms over her face while she laid on her back. Rocks pelted her body and struck her aura. The whole thing was over in less than 30 seconds, but it felt much longer. When the dust finally settled, Ruby pulled herself out of the new layer of rocks and gravel that had formed around her. A coat of dust, the regular kind, stuck to her clothes and pebbles fell out of her hair, but she didn't have any actual damage.

Thoughts about who could have and why they would have done such a thing raced through her mind before a much more pressing one took front stage: _where was Mercury?_

She scanned the tunnel but she couldn't find the grey assassin anywhere. Then her eyes landed on the massive pile of rocks that had completely taken up a section of the tunnel. She had been pushed out of the way, but anyone who had been standing directly under the explosion would have been buried.

Her heart rate soared. _She couldn't lose another one._

Using her enhanced speed she dove at the pile and frantically clawed her way through the rubble looking for the teen. "Mercury! Mercury! Can you hear me?"

A shift in the rubble caught her attention and she quickly dug through it revealing the head and shoulders of Mercury Black. His face was smeared with dust and he spit out a few rocks upon his surfacing, but he didn't have any cuts or bruises, so his aura must have been enough to protect him.

"Hang on, I'll get you out of there." Ruby grabbed Mercury under the armpit and started to pull, a pained groan from him instantly made her stop. "What is it?" she said barely able to keep a hold of her panic.

"It's my leg," Mercury gasped. "I think it's broken."

Ruby excavated a little lower and paled when she saw the bottom half of Mercury's leg crushed under a large boulder. Slowly she managed to roll it off and free Mercury's leg, but that wouldn't remove the damage it had already done.

"How bad is it," Mercury whimpered.

Ruby braced herself and tried to recall the minimal first aid knowledge she had been given at Beacon as she lifted the bottom part of Mercury's pant leg to inspect the damage. She held steady telling herself she wouldn't puke no matter what she saw, but instead of crushed bone and flesh, she saw metal and wires.

In shock, she turned back at Mercury who now had the biggest shit-eating grin she had ever seen. "You bastard!" Ruby rarely ever swore, but she felt like this time was justified.

"Hey, my leg really is broken," he said, uncaring about the trauma he just put her through.

Ruby hit him in the stomach but that only caused him to laugh. "It's not funny!" she screamed fighting back the tears that were forming in her eyes.

That got him to stop laughing and even drop his grin. Mercury sighed and used his arms to pull himself out of the rubble. "There's no need to be so upset it was just a joke."

Ruby wiped away the moisture in her eyes with her sleeve. "You're an asshole." She sniffled.

Mercury looked up at her seemingly confused. "Were you really that worried about me?"

"Of course I was. You're my friend." The poor girl was shaking. "I've already lost Penny and Pyrrha, and even the rest of my team. I don't think I could take it if I lost you too."

Mercury looked away rather awkwardly. He didn't realize Ruby cared so much about him. In fact, he didn't think anybody had ever worried about him in the same way she was now. He doubted Emerald or Cinder would have cared if he had bitten the dust and certainly his father wouldn't have given a damn, but Ruby was basically crying over him.

It didn't make any sense especially since he was partially responsible for why she had lost all her other friends. A pit opened in his stomach and he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: guilt. He was starting to feel bad about what he had done to her back in Beacon, but he also felt bad about what he had done to her just now. Geez, she really did bring out the worst in him.

"I shouldn't have tricked you like that," he admitted. "It wasn't cool."

Ruby looked him in the face with eyes that were still a bit puffy. "Promise me you'll never do something like that again," she said and to Mercury's absolute horror, she held out her pinky.

"I promise," he said without moving either of his hands, hoping she would just let it go, or better yet, think he didn't know what a pinky promise even was.

No luck. She forced her pinky around his own and made him promise again.

Why was she so concerned about him? Was she just so lonely that she had latched onto the only person familiar to her even after everything he'd done? Mercury wasn't sure how he felt about that—literally. There were emotions bubbling around inside him that he had never felt before in his entire life. He didn't know if he wanted them to stay around longer, or for them to die and never come back.

"Who do you think did this?" Ruby asked.

"It's pretty obvious who the only person capable of doing this is."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"We better be prepared for when we get out of here."

Ruby nodded, somberly.

The next half-hour was spent with Ruby digging a way out while Mercury stayed off to the side leaning against Ruby's scythe like it was a crutch. His robotic leg being crushed may not have actually hurt him, but it still meant he couldn't walk on it. That would be a problem since repair materials weren't exactly in abundance out on the frontier, but it was something he would worry about later.

For now, Ruby was almost through. The explosives hadn't been strong enough to bring the entire mineshaft down. They had just been meant to bury them under a section of rock, so all Ruby had to do was push them all out of the way. It was annoying and time-consuming, especially with Mercury unable to help, but it wasn't anything a Huntress couldn't do.

The last few rocks fell away and a space between the roof and the pile was just big enough to crawl through opened up. Ruby came back down and collected her weapon after Mercury got down on his knees. The fact she had even given him her precious weapon was just another level of trust that confused him.

The two crawled to the other side of the tunnel without issues although when it was time to start walking, Mercury was forced to accept Ruby's shoulder as support. The height difference made it a bit difficult, but it wasn't anything they couldn't manage.

They emerged from the mineshaft and weren't surprised to find Alabaster waiting for them along with a squad all wearing the SDC security uniform, all human, and all pointing rifles in their direction.

Behind them was Jett and a few other faunus. They looked angry about what was happening but didn't have the power to stop it.

"You tried to kill us," Ruby said bluntly.

"No, I tried to kill him," Alabaster pointed at Mercury. "I knew you looked familiar the first time I saw you, and I finally figured out from where. You're one of the people responsible for the destruction of Beacon. It's been hard getting information since the CTT tower fell, but all upper SDC employees were briefed about your group. I just didn't expect one of you to actually show up in my camp. Now surrender and we won't have to kill you."

So that was how he was justifying this. All things considered, it was a pretty good excuse to rally the troops against two Huntsmen that had just helped them out. In fact, capturing or killing a criminal involved in the fall of Beacon was a better way of restoring his position than shutting down the mine via Grimm ever could be. If Alabaster succeeded, questions about his previous conduct would dry up faster than a Vacuo puddle.

But, success was hardly a guarantee. Mercury counted fourteen armed guards plus Alabaster himself. The explosion in the tunnel had obviously been to weaken up the Huntsmen before the fight if not outright kill, but while his mobility had been hit his aura was still solid. Lastly, Ruby was still here and while Alabaster seemed intent on ignoring her, she very much had a say in this situation.

She looked at him with that same mixture of worry and uncertainness that should have been reserved for someone that hadn't torn her life apart. "I'll be fine," he assured her. "Just focus on your own fights."

Ruby didn't try to argue. "Alright, just be careful and don't kill anybody." Then before anyone could even think about reacting, Ruby sped away from Mercury and towards the guards with her scythe on full display. Without Ruby's support, Mercury fell forward, but planted his hands on the ground and pushed himself into a handstand. He primed the firing mechanism in his still working leg and let loose a barrage of bullets like he was a stationary turret.

The battle didn't even last a full minute.

* * *

Ruby sat at a small desk with Mercury's disconnected leg on top of it. The man who it belonged to was sitting crossed-legged on the bed behind her. The room they were in was plain, small, drafty and the only light source came from a single dust lamp on the desk.

After Alabaster and his guards had been beaten, Jett and the rest of the miners had tied them up and taken control of the camp. It was Jett who had given them the room as thanks for all their hard work. Obviously, it left a lot to be desired but the camp was cramped enough as it was. For Mercury and Ruby to have a room to themselves, two other miners would be bunking with their friends in rooms identical to this one or even sleeping out in the hallway. Ruby felt a little bad, but Jett assured them the original inhabitants had volunteered for it, and Ruby was far too tired to argue about it.

Jett had also assured them that he would get in contact with the SDC and inform them what Alabaster had really been up to. No doubt he'd be removed and with any luck, Jett would be made the camp head. It was a longshot but if Jett could make the camp more productive than it had ever been under Alabaster, it wasn't impossible. He'd try to leave Mercury's name out of it, but Alabaster and the guards would definitely latch onto it as their only defense. Of course, they'd be long gone by the time that happened, but it was something to be aware of. Mercury was a wanted man after all.

Ruby was glad Jett had been so understanding about that. As he put it, "I don't care what he did or didn't do. He helped us out and that's all that matters."

Everything was pointing to a happy ending and it would have been the perfect time for Ruby to take her well-deserved rest, but unfortunately in her infinite wisdom, she had offered to fix Mercury's broken leg. She blamed it on the adrenaline rush she had after the fight making her feel more awake than she actually was. At least Mercury was staying up with her.

He probably would have let her finish it in the morning if she asked, but now that she had already started, she didn't want to quit halfway. The leg wasn't actually as badly damaged or as complex as Ruby had believed. If the damage had been to the section where the leg connected to his nerves, then they would have been in trouble, but right now it was just like fixing any other weapon.

It had been a long time since Ruby had been able to gush over a new weapon and she couldn't help but take details on Mercury's. She was surprised to find that the firing mechanism was actually in his leg and not his boot. In fact, his boots only seem to be a place to chamber his variety of bullets like it was a revolver cylinder. The firing mechanism on his leg was also powerful enough to fire air blasts if he ever ran out of bullets which was probably necessary since Ruby couldn't imagine how you could reload your feet during combat.

It was a well put together weapon and even gave Ruby some ideas for her own.

"Are you done yet?" Mercury said.

"Be patient," Ruby replied. "I'm doing this as a favor."

"I only asked because you've been staring off into space for the last few minutes."

Ruby flushed as she realized she had gone off into her own little world again, something that happened often when she worked on weapons. "I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?" he asked only because he was bored sitting in silence.

Ruby didn't want to tell him what she was really thinking about so she went for something else. "Just about how nice Jett was to us."

Mercury's eyes roamed to the other form of "thank you" Jett had given them. A bag filled with all types of dust vials already processed and ready for use. Alabaster might not have wanted to give them composition, but Jett had been more than happy to.

"Isn't it nicer to earn it this way instead of stealing it?" Ruby gloated.

"Don't get too smug. You had no idea it would end up like this. It was just luck." He paused. "But yes I guess this is better. Much better than I would have gotten smuggling out those dust crystals. Good thing we didn't end up fighting over them."

Ruby looked down at the desk and bit the bottom of her lip. "I wouldn't have actually fought you for the dust."

"I know."

"Then why did you give in?"

"It seemed like the right thing to do. Not for the SDC or even me but for you."

"What do you mean?" She asked

"You didn't even realize, did you? When you raised your weapon, it looked like you were ready to have a panic attack. I've only seen that expression on people about to lose a fight never on someone about to start one."

"I was scared," Ruby admitted. "I've made mistakes on my path to becoming a hero and I just didn't want you to do the same." Mercury started to say something but Ruby interrupted, "and I know you don't care, but I do."

"Why?" he asked, stunned.

_Because you're the only one I have left. _Ruby chewed on her lip even harder and kept her hands as busy as they could possibly be. "Because we're partners and partners don't let each other do bad things."

Mercury smirked. "Emerald and I did plenty of bad things."

"Well, she's not your partner anymore. I am."

"Whatever you say."

Ruby huffed. "Here, I've finished your leg. Put it on a tell me if it feels alright."

Mercury paced around the room with his newly functioning leg and did a few kicks with it. "Feels good to me."

Ruby slumped down in her chair with her hands held up in exhausted victory. "Thank you, now I can finally get to sleep." Her eyes focused on the bed—the only bed.

Mercury must have figured out the problem from the look on her face as he too gazed at the singular bed. "I'll sleep on the floor." He shrugged.

Ruby was shocked and a little suspicious. "Really? That's not like you at all."

"What can I say. Your reformation is actually working. Congrats, you've made me a slightly better person."

"You sure you're not going to slip in while I'm asleep."

"I would never dream of it."

Ruby wasn't sure if she believed that, but by this point, she was too tired to care. Even if he did, it wouldn't be any more embarrassing than the bath they shared.

Ruby kicked off her boots and got into the bed. She watched as Mercury laid down on the floor. If she had been thinking about it, she would have wondered why he didn't ask for a pillow or even a blanket, but with her body encompassed by the warmth of the bedsheets, such logical reasoning was beyond her.

She was out the moment her head hit the pillow.

When she woke up, it was to find that the entire bag of dust vials and Mercury were nowhere to be found. The only thing he left behind was a note on the desk.

It read, "guess I'm not reformed after all, but as an apology, I'll give this back to you. Don't think it applies to me after this anyway. See you around partner. Or not."

Ruby was confused about what he was giving back to her until she turned the note around and saw something she had given to a child back at Cliff's Edge

On the other side of the note next to a little doodle of a rose it read, "to my biggest and first fan, Ruby Rose."


End file.
